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The New York
Public Library
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/<Li--.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
FIN LAY.
VOL. II. a
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SonDon
MACMILLAN AND CO.
PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF
©xforlr.
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HISTORY OF GREECE
FROM ITS
CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS TO THE PRESENT TIME
B.C. 146 TO A.D. 1864
BY
^ GEORGE FINLAY, LL.D.
A NEW EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT, AND IN PART RE-WRITTEN,
WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS, BY THE AUTHOR,
AND EDITED BY THE
REV. H. F. TOZER, M.A.
TUTOR AND LATH FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD
/AT SEVEN VOLUMES
The New York
Pc*^!ic Libraiv
• l*iMk<0«lM«l«H
VOL. II
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. PART I
A.D. 716 — 1057
y
r
I-
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS -| lI --/^ill^C, \
M DCCC LXXVIl Cc^c^cAo
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[i4// righti reserved '\
r,293*7B
1943
V^ 'V .\\ c.;. \ 1 n(. A \ ^_.c:ci.v(^
K^\ eev^ H^aVoiT
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CONTENTS.
BOOK FIRST.
THE CONTEST WITH THE ICONOCLASTS. — A.D. 7 1 6-867.
CHAPTER I.
The Isaiirian Dynasty. — A.D. 716-707.
§ I. Characteristics of Byzantine history .
Its divisions .....
Extent and adnunistrative divisions of the empire
§ 2. Reign of Leo III. (the Isaurian), a.d. 716-741
Saracen war ....
Si^e of Constantinople
Circiunstances favourable to Leo's reforms
Fables concerning Leo III.
Military, financial, and legal reforms .
Ecclesiastical policy .
Rebellion in Greece
Papal opposition to the Iconoclasts
Physical phenomena .
$ 3. Constantine V. (Copronymus), a.d. 741-775
Character of Constantine V. .
Rebellion of Artavasdos
Saracen war ....
Bulgarian war ....
Internal policy of the empire .
Policy regarding image- worship
Ph3rsical phenomena
Plague at Constantinople
VOL. II. b
FAOB
I
9
II
13
14
15
21
25
27
34
37
38
43
45
46
46
50
51
53
56
63
64
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VI
CONTENTS.
§ 4. Reigns of Leo IV. (the Khazar), Constantine VI., and Irene, a.d.
775-802 .
Irene regent
Restoration of image-worship
Second Council of Nicaea
Extinction of Byzantine authority at Rome
Constantine VI. assumes the government
Divorces Maria ajid marries Theodota
Opposition of monks ......
Persecution of Theodore Studita ....
Irene dethrones her son, Constantine VI.
Policy of government during the reigns of Constantine and Irene
Saracen war .......
Bulgarian war .......
CHAPTER II.
Beigns of Nioepliorus I., Miohael I.» and Iioo V. (the
Armenian). — A.D. 802-820.
§ I. Family and character of Nicephorus I., a.d. 803-811
Rebellion of Bardanes .
Tolerant ecclesiastical policy
Oppressive fiscal administration
Relations with Charlemagne
Saracen war
Defeat of Sclavonians at Patnie
Bulgarian war .
Death of Nicephorus I.
§ a. Michael I. (RhangaW), a.d. 812-813
Religious zeal of Michael I.
Bulgarian war .
Defeat of Michael I. .
§ 3. Leo V. (the Armenian), a.d. 813-820
Policy of Leo V.
Treacherous attack on Crumn, king of the Bidgariims
Victory over the Bulgarians
Affairs of Italy and Sicily
Moderation in ecclesiastical contests
Council of the church favourable to the Iconoclasts
Impartial administration of justice
Conspiracy against Leo V., and his assassination
CHAPTER in.
The Amorian Dynasty. — ^A.D. 820-867.
§ I. Michael II. (the Stammerer), aj>. 820-829
Birth of Michael II. .
Rebellion of Thomas .
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128
CONTENTS.
Vll
Loss of Crete and Sicily
Ecclesiastical policy ....
Michael's marriage and death .
§ 2. Theophilus, a.d. 829-842
Anecdotes concerning the emperor's love of justice
Anecdotes concerning his marriage
Ecclesiastical persecution
Love of art .
Colony on the Don ....
Saracen war .....
Theophilus destroys Zapetra .
Motassem destroys Amorium .
Death of Theophilus ....
§ 3. Michael III. (the Drunkard) a.d. 842-867
R^ency of Theodora ....
Moral and religious reaction in Byzantine society
Restoration of image-worship .
Rebellion of the Sclavonians in the Peloponnesus
Saracen war .....
Persecution of the Paulicians .
Personal conduct of Michael III.
Wealth in the Byzantine treasury
Bardas ......
Ignatius and Photius ....
Origin of Papal authority in the church
General council in 861
Bulgarian war .....
Saracen war .....
Victory of Petronas ....
Russians attack Constantinople
State of the court ....
Assassinations .....
Origin of the tale of the blindness of Belisarius
Assassination of Michael III. .
PAGE
134
140
14a
142
M4
146
148
150
15a
153
155
158
160
161
161
162
163
166
166
168
171
17a
173
175
179
181
184
186
187
188
190
193
194
196
CHAPTER IV.
State of the Byaantine Empire during the Iconoclast Period.
\ I. Public administration. Diplomatic and commercial relations
Constantinople was neither a Roman nor a Greek city
The Greek race not the dominant people in the Byzantine empire
Circumstances which modified the despotic power of the emperors
Extent of the empire .
Military strength
Loss of Italy, Sicily, and Crete
Embassy of John the Grammarian to Bagdad .
Commercial policy
Wealth of the Byzantine empire and the neighbouring states
ba
198
199
200
201
203
203
205
107
aio
ai3
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VIU
CONTENTS.
% 2. State of society in the Byzantine empire during the eighth and ninth
centuries .
Decline of civilization .
Influence of the Greek church .
Slavery ....
Theological spirit of the people
State of science and art
Literature
215
217
218
220
221
224
226
BOOK SECOND.
BASILIAN DYNASTY. A.D. 867-IO57.
CHAPTER I.
Consolidation of Bysantine Iiegislation and DeapotiBm.
A.D. 867-863.
§ I. Reign of Basil I. (the Macedonian), a.d. 867-886
Personal history of Basil I. .
Ecclesiastical administration .
Financial administration
Legislation .....
Military administration
Pauiician war .....
Campaigns in Asia Minor
Saracens ravage Sicily and Italy
Court and character of Basil I.
§ 2. Leo VL (the Philosopher), ajd. 886-912
Character and court of l-eo VI.
Ecclesiastical administration .
Legislation .....
Saracen wjur .....
Taking of Thessalonica by the Saracens
Expedition to reconquer Crete .
Affairs of Italy .....
Bulgarian war .....
§ 3. Alexander — Minority of Constantine VII. — Romanus I., aj). 912.944
Reign of Alexander, A J). 912-913
Minority of Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus), aj). 913-920
Sedition of Constantine Dukas
Byzantine army defeated by Simeon, King of the Bulgarians
228
229
231
ns
236
242
243
345
248
252
261
264
265
266
278
278
280
282
282
283
285
288
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CONTENTS.
IX
Intrigues at Constantinople
Romanus I. (Lecapenus) makes himself emperor, a.d. 930-944
Conspiracies against Romanus I.
Romanus I. dethroned by his son Stephanos
§ 4- Constantine VIL (Porphyrogenitus), Romanus II., aj). 945-963,
Character of Constantine VII., ajd. 945-959
Literary works of Constantine VU. (Porphyrogenitus)
Death of Constantine VII.
Conspiracies during his reign .
Pride of Byzantine court
Internal condition of the empire
Sclavonians in the Peloponnesus
Mainates
Saracen war
Bulgarian war— Hungarian invasions— Italian affairs
Character of Romanus II., a.d. 959-963
Conquest of Crete ....
Condition of Greece ....
PAGE
jB8
390
293
393
294
294
295
297.
298
299
302
304
305
306
3«o
313
315
319
CHAPTER II.
»
Period of Ck>nque8t and Military Qlory.— A.D. 068-1025«
§1-
§2.
Nicephorus II. (Phokas), John I. (Zimiskes), a.d. 963-976 .
323
Adminbtration of Joseph Bringas ....
• 3«3
Character of NicejAorus II. (Phokas), a;d. 963-969^ .
3^5
Public administration ......
326
Saracen war . .
330
Affairs in Sicily, Italy, and Bulgaria ....
333
Assassination of Nicephorus H. ....
334
Character of John I. (Zimiskes), a.d. 969-976
335
Russian war .......
339
Republic of Cherson ......
• 350
Saiacen war .......
. 358
Death of John I. ......
360
Basil II. (Bulgaroktonos), a.d. 976-1025
. 360
Character of Basil II. ......
361
Rebellion of Bardas Skleros ^ . . . .
362
RebeUion of Bardas Phokas .....
362
Wealth of private individuals .....
366
Bulgarian war .......
Z^
Defeat of Basil II
370
Samuel, king of Bulgaria, founds the kingdom of Achrida
371
Defeats of Samuel ......
373
Basil II. puts out the eyes of his prisoners . . . .
376
Conquest of the kingdom of Achrida . . . . .
381
Basil II. visits Athens .......
382
Conquests in Armenia ......
384
Death of Basil II
386
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
Period of Oonservatism and Stationary Prosperity. —
A.D. 1026-1057.
§ I. Constantine VIII., a.d. 1025-1038
Condition of the empire
Character of Constantine VIII.
Government administered by his eunnchs
Oppressive financial administration
Many nobles deprived of sight .
Marriage of Zoe with Romanos Arghyros— death of Constantine
§ a. Reigns of the husbands and creatures of Zoe, aj). 1028-1054
Conduct of Romanus III., 1028-1034
Conspiracies .
Saracen war— defeat of Romanus III.
Exploits of Maniakes .
Autograph of Christ taken at Eldessa
Acquisition of Perkrin .
Naval operations
Death of Romanus III.
Character of Michael IV. (the Paphlagonian), aj>. 1034^041
John the Orphanotrophos
Financial oppression
Anecdotes
Conspiracies
Saracens attempt to surprise Edessa
War in Sicily .
Loss of Servia .
Rebellion of the Sdavonians and Bulgarians .
Energetic conduct of Michael IV., and his death
Michael V. (the Kalaphates), a.d. 104a
Zoe and Theodora, a.d. 1042 .
Meeting of Zoe and Constantinos Dalassenos .
Constantine IX. (Monomachos), aj>. 1042-1054
Skleraina, the concubine of Constantine DC, empress
Lavish expenditure
Cruelty of Theodora .
Sedition in Cyprus
Rebellion of Maniakes .
Rebellion of Tomikios .
Court plots
Servian war
Russian war
Patzinak war .
War in Italy .
Conquest of Armenia .
Invasion of the empire by the Seljouk Turks
Schism of the Greek and Latin churches
Death of 2^)e and Constantine IX.
VIII.
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CONTENTS.
XI
$ 3. Theodora and Michael VI. (Stratiotikos), a.d. 1054-105 7
Character and administration of Theodora, aj>. i 054-1056
Incapacity of Michael VI. .....
Administration transferred to the eunuchs of the imperial household
Conspiracy of great nobles in Asia Minor
Michael VI. dethroned .....
General observations ......
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447
449
450
45«
455
456
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HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE
EMPIRE.
BOOK FIRST.
The Contest with the Iconoclasts. a.d. 716-867,
CHAPTER I.
The Isaurian Dynasty, a.d. 71 6-797 \
Sect. I. — Characteristics of Byzantine History — Its Divisions
— Extent and Administrative Divisions of the Empire.
The institutions of Imperial Rome long thwarted the great
law of man's existence which impels him to better his con-
dition. Both the material and intellectual progress of society
had been deliberately opposed by the imperial legislation.
A spirit of conservatism persuaded the legislators of the
Roman empire that its power could not decline, if each order
and profession of its citizens was fixed irrevocably in the
sphere of their own peculiar duties by hereditary succession.
An attempt was really made to divide the population into
castes. But the political laws which were adopted to retain
mankind in a state of stationary prosperity by these trammels,
^ Theophxuies (p. 327) makes the reign of Leo III. commenoe a.m. 6209, "which
may be from September 716, but Nicephorus Patriarcha in Chrwt. Comp€nd. at the
end of Syncellus (p. 403) makes him reign 25 years, 3 months, and 15 days, and
as he died on the i8th June, 741, this makes his reign commence from the time
he was proclaimed emperor by his troops in March, 716, while Theodosius HI.
was emperor at Constantinople. Muralt. Essm de ChroHohgie Byzantint, p. 336.
VOL. II. B
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% ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.51.
depopulated and impoverished the empire, and threatened to
dissolve the very elements of society. The Western Empire,
under their operation, fell a prey to small tribes of northern
nations ; the Eastern was so depopulated that it was on the
eve of being repeopled by Sclavonian colonists, and conquered
by Saracen invaders.
The accession of Leo the Isaurian opened a new era in the
Eastern Empire, and under his government the empire not
only ceased to decline, but even began to regain much of its
early vigour. Reformed modifications of the old Roman
authority developed new energy. Great political reforms,
and still greater changes in the condition of the people, mark
the eighth century as an epoch of transition, though the im-
proved condition of the mass of the population is in some
d^ree concealed by the prominence given to the disputes
concerning image-worship in the records of this period. But
the increased strength of the empire, and the energy infused
into the administration, are forcibly displayed by the fact,
that the Byzantine armies b^an from this time to oppose
a firm barrier to the progress of the invaders of the empire.
When Leo III. was proclaimed Emperor, it seemed as if na
human power could save Constantinople from falling as Rome
had fallen. The Saracens considered the sovereignty of every
land, in which any remains of Roman civilization survived, as
within their grasp. Leo, an Isaurian, and consequently a
foreigner, ascended the throne of Constantine, and arrested
the victorious career of the Mohammedans. He then re-
organized the whole administration so completely in accord-
ance with the new exigencies of Eastern society, that the
reformed empire outlived for many centuries every govern-
ment contemporary with its establishment.
The Eastern Roman Empire, thus reformed, is called by
modem historians the Byzantine Empire; and the term is
well devised to mark the changes effected in the government,
after the extinction of the last traces of the military monarchy
of ancient Rome. The social condition of the inhabitants of
the Eastern Empire had already undergone a considerable
change during the century which elapsed from the accession
of Heraclius to that of Leo, from the influence of causes to be
noticed in the following pages; and this change in society-
created a new phase in the Roman empire. The gradual
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COMMENCEMENT OF BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 3
Aj». 716-797.]
progress of this change has led some writers to date the com-
mencement of the Byzantine Empire as early as the reigns of
Zeno and Anastasius, and others to descend so late as the
times of Maurice and HeracHus^. But as the Byzantine
Empire was only a continuation of the Roman government
under a reformed system, it seems most correct to date its
commencement from the period when the new social and
political modifications produced a visible effect on the fate
of the Eastern Empire. This period is marked by the acces-
sion of Leo the Isaurian.
The administrative system adopted by Constantine con-
tinued in operation, though subjected to frequent reforms,
until Constantinople was stormed by the Crusaders, and the
Greek church enslaved by papal domination. The General
Council of Nicaea, and the dedication of the imperial city,
with their concomitant legislative, administrative, and judicial
institutions, engendered a succession of political measures,
whose direct relations were uninterrupted until terminated by
foreign conquest. The government of Great Britain has under-
gone greater changes during the last three centuries than that
of the Eastern Empire during the nine centuries which elapsed
from the foundation of Constantinople in 330, to its conquest
in 1204.
Yet Leo III. has strong claims to be regarded as the first
of a new series of emperors. He was the founder of a dynasty,
the saviour of Constantinople, and the reformer of the church
and state. He was the first Christian sovereign who arrested
the torrent of Mohammedan conquest ; he improved the con-
dition of his subjects ; he attempted to purify their religion
from the superstitious reminiscences of Hellenism, with which
it was still debased, and to stop the development of a quasi-
idolatry in the orthodox church. Nothing can prove more
decidedly the right of his empire to assume a new name than
the contrast presented by the condition of its inhabitants to
' Clinton, Fasti Romania Introduction, p. xiii, says, * The empire of Rome, pro-
perly so called, ends at a.d. 476,' which is the third year of Zeno. Numismatists
place the commencement of the Byzantine empire in the reign of Anastasius I.
Saolcy, Essai de Classification des Suites Monetaires Byzantines. Gibbon tells us,
• Tiberius by the Arabs, and Maurice by the Italians, are distinguished as the first
of the Greek Caesars, as the founders of a new dynasty and empire. The silent
revolution was accomplished before the death of Heraclius/ Decline and Fall,
c liii; vol. vii p. 38, edit. Smith.
B %
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4 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.§i.
that of the subjects of the preceding dynasty. Under the
successors of HeracHus, the Roman Empire presents the
spectacle of a declining society, and its thinly-peopled pro-
vinces were exposed to the intrusion of foreign colonists and
hostile invaders. But, under Leo, society offers an aspect of
improvement and prosperity; the old population revives from
its lethargy, and soon increases, both in number and strength,
to such a degree as to drive back all intruders on its territories.
In the records of human civilization, Leo the Isaurian must
always occupy a high position, as a type of what the central
power in a state can effect even in a declining empire.
Before reviewing the history of Leo's reign, and recording
his brilliant exploits, it is necessary to sketch the condition to
which the Roman administrative system had reduced the
empire. It would be an instructive lesson to trace the pro-
gress of the moral and mental decline of the Greeks, from the
age of Plato and Aristotle to the time of the sixth oecumenical
council, in the reign of Justinian II.; for the moral evils
nourished in Greek society degraded the nation, before the
oppressive government of the Romans impoverished and
depopulated Greece. When the imperial authority was fully-
established, we easily trace the manner in which the inter-
communication of different provinces and orders of society-
became gradually restricted to the operations of material
interests, and how the limitation of ideas arose from this want
of communication, until at length civilization decayed. Good
roads and commodious passage-boats have a more direct con-
nection with the development of human culture, as we see it
reflected in the works of Phidias and the writings of Sopho-
cles, than is generally believed. Under the jealous system of
the imperial government, the isolation of place and class
became so complete, that even the highest members of the
aristocracy received their ideas from the inferior domestics
with whom they habitually associated in their own house-
holds — not from the transitory intercourse they held with
able and experienced men of their own class, or with philo-
sophic and religious teachers. Nurses and slaves implanted
their ignorant superstitions in the households where the rulers
of the empire and the provinces were reared ; and no public
assemblies existed, where discussion could efface such impres-
sions. Family education became a more influential feature
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DECLINE OF SOCIETY. 5
AJ). 716-797]
in society than public instruction ; and though family educa-
tion, from the fourth to the seventh century, appears to have
improved the morality of the population, it certainly increased
superstition and limited men's understandings. Emperors,
senators, landlords, and merchants, were alike educated under
these influences ; and though the church and the law opened
a more enlarged circle of ideas, from creating a deeper sense
of responsibility, still the prejudices of early education circum-
scribed the sense of duty more and more in each succes-
sive generation. The military class, which was the most
powerful in society, consisted almost entirely of mere barba-
rians. The mental degradation, resulting from superstition,
bigotry, and ignorance, which forms the marked social feature
of the period between the reigns of Justinian I. and Leo III.,
brought the Eastern Empire to the state of depopulation and
weakness that had delivered the Western a prey to small
tribes of invaders.
The fiscal causes of the depopulation of the Roman empire
have been noticed in a prior volume, as well as the extent to
which immigrants had intruded themselves on the soil of
Greece ^ The corruption of the ancient language took place
at the same time, and arose out of the causes which dis-
seminated ignorance. At the accession of Leo, the disorder
in the central administration, the anarchy in the provincial
government, and the ravages of the Sclavonians and Saracens,
had rendered the condition of the people intolerable. The
Roman government seemed incapable of upholding legal
order in society, and its extinction was r^arded as a proxi-
mate event 2. All the provinces between the shores of the
Adriatic and the banks of the Danube had been abandoned
to Sclavonian tribes. Powerful colonies of Sclavonians had
been planted by Justinian II. in Macedonia and Bithynia, in
the rich valleys of the Strymon and the Artanes^ Greece
was filled with pastoral and agricultural hordes of the same
race, who became in many districts the sole cultivators of the
• Greece under the Romans, pp. 38, 399.
• This feeling can be traced as early as the reign of Maurice. Theophylactus
Simocatta (p. 11) records that an angel appeared in a dream to the Emj)eror
Tiberius II., and uttered these words : * The Lord announces to thee, O emperor,
that in thy reign the days of anarchy shall not commence.*
' Constant. Porphyr. De Them, lib. ii. p. 23, edit. Paris ; Theoph. 304, 305, 364 ;
Nicephorns Patr. 44, edit Paris.
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6 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.5i'
soil, and effaced the memory of the names of mountains and
streams, which will be immortal in the world's literature *.
The Bulgarians plundered all Thrace to the walls of Constan-
tinople^. Thessalonica was repeatedly besieged by Sclavo-
nians^ The Saracens inundated Asia Minor with their
armies, and were preparing to extirpate Christianity in the
East. Such was the crisis at which Leo was proclaimed
emperor by the army, in Amorium, A.D. 716.
Yet peculiar circumstances in the condition of the surviving
population, and an inherent vigour in the principles of the
Roman administration, still operated powerfully in resisting
foreign domination. The people felt the necessity of defend-
ing the administration of the law, and of upholding com-
mercial intercourse. The ties of interest consequently ranged
a large body of the inhabitants of every province round the
central administration at this hour of difficulty. The very-
circumstances which weakened the power of the court of
Constantinople, conferred on the people an increase of
authority, and enabled them to take effectual measures for
their own defence. This new energy may be traced in the
resistance which Ravenna and Cherson offered to the tyranny
of Justinian II. The orthodox church, also, served as an
additional bond of union among the people, and throughout
the wide extent of the imperial dominions its influence
connected the local feelings of the parish with the general
interests of the church ?ind the empire. The misfortunes,
which brought the state to the verge of ruin, relieved com-
merce from much fiscal oppression and many monopolies.
Facilities were thus given to trade, which afforded to the
population of the towns additional sources of employment.
The commerce of the Eastern Empire had already gained
by the conquests of the barbarians in the West, for the
ruling classes in the countries conquered by the Goths and
Franks destroyed many monopolies and local privil^es ;
and they rarely engaged in trade or accumulated capital*.
' Constant. Porphyr. D« Thtm. ii. p. 35 ; Strabonis Epit, vol. iii. p. 386, edit.
Coray. Marathon became Vrana; Salamis, Kiluri; Plataea, KochUj Mycene,
Kharvati; Olympia, Miraka; and Delphi, Kastri.
* Theoph. 320.
» Tafel, De TTussaloniea ejusque Agro, prol. xciv.
• This fact explains the increase in the numbers of the Jews, and their oommer-
dal importance, in the seventh century. The conquered Romans were ba\^id to
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Aj). 716-797.]
The advantage of possessing a systematic administration
of justice, enforced by a fixed legal procedure, attached
the commercial classes and the town population to the
person of the emperor, whose authority was considered the
fountain of legal order and judicial impartiality. A fixed
legislation, and an uninterrupted administration of justice,
prevented the political anarchy that prevailed under the suc-
cessors of Heraclius from ruining society ; while the arbitrary
judicial power of provincial governors, in the dominions
of the caliphs, rendered property insecure, and undermined
national wealth.
There was likewise another feature in the Eastern Empire
which deserves notice. The number of towns was very
great, and they were generally more populous than the
political state of the country would lead us to expect. In-
deed, to estimate the density of the urban population, in
comparison with the extent of territory from which it appar-
ently derived its supplies, we must compare it with the actual
condition of Malta and Guernsey, or with the state of Lom-
bardy and Tuscany in the middle ages. This density of
population, joined to the great difference in the price of the
produce of the soil in various places, afforded the Roman
government the power of collecting from its subjects an
amount of taxation unparalleled in modern times, except
in Egfypt^. The whole surplus profits of society were
their corporations by their own law, to which they clung, and almost to the trades
of their fathers ; for the Romans were serfs of their corporations before serfdom
was extended by their conquerors to the soil. Compare Cod, Theod. lib. x. t. 20,
L 10, with Cod. Justin, lib. xi. t. 41 et seq^. One of the three ambassadors sent by
Charlemagne to Haroun Al Rashid was a Jew. He was doubtless charged with
the commercial business.
* The peculiarities in Egypt, which enabled the government of Mehemet Ali to
extract about two millions sterling annually from a population of two millions of
paupers, were the following : The surplus in the produce of the country makes the
price of the immense quantity produced in Upper Egypt very low. Government
can, consequently, either impose a tax on the produce of the upper country equal
to the difference of price at Siout and Alexandria, less the expense of transport, or
it can constitute itself the sole master of the transport on the Nile, and make
a monopoly both of the right of purchase and of freight. The expense of trans-
port is trifUng, as the stream carries a loaded boat steadily down the river, while
the north wind drives an empty one up against the current, almost with the regu-
larity of a steam-engine. The Nile offers, in this manner, all the advantages of a
railway, nature having constructed the road and supplied the locomotive power ;
while a monopoly of their use is vested in the hands of every tyrant who rules the
country. Mehemet Ali, not content with this, created an almost universal mono-
poly in fiivour of his government. The whole produce of the country was pur-
chased at a tariff price, the cultivator being only allowed to retain the means of
peipetaating his class. The number of towns and the density of population in the
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8 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.(i.
annually drawn into the coffers of the state, leaving the
inhabitants only a bare sufficiency for perpetuating the race
of tax-payers. History, indeed, shows that the agricultural
classes, from the labourer to the landlord, were unable to
retain possession of the savings required to replace that de-
predation which time is constantly producing in all vested
capital, and that their numbers gradually diminished.
After the accession of Leo III., a new condition of society
is soon apparent ; and though many old political evils con-
tinued to exist, it becomes evident that a greater d^ree of
personal liberty, as well as greater security for property, was
henceforth guaranteed to the mass of the inhabitants of the
empire. Indeed, no other government of which history has
preserved the records, unless it be that of China, has secured
equal advantages to its subjects for so long a period. The
empires of the caliphs and of Charlemagne, though historians
have celebrated their praises loudly, cannot, in their best
days, compete with the administration organized by Leo
on this point ; and both sank into ruin while the Byzantine
empire continued to flourish in full vigour. It must be
confessed that eminent historians present a totally different
picture of Byzantine history to their readers. Voltaire speaks
of it as a worthless repertory of declamation and miracles,
disgraceful to the human mind^. Even the sagacious Gib-
bon, after enumerating with just pride the extent of his
labours, adds, *From these considerations, I should have
abandoned without regret the Greek slaves and their servile
historians, had I not reflected that the fate of the Byzantine
monarchy is passively connected with the most splendid and
important revolutions which have changed the state of the
world V The views of Byzantine history unfolded in the
following pages, are frequently in direct opposition to these
great authorities. The defects and vices of the political
system will be carefully noticed, but the splendid achieve-
Byzantine empire arose from the immense amoimt of capital which ages of security
had expended in improving the soil, and from its cultivation as garden-land with
the spade and mattock. Both these facts are easily proved.
* Le Pyrrhonismt de PHisioire, chap. xv. note i. With this remark* the records
of an empire, which witnessed the rise and fall of the Caliphs and the Carlovin-
gians, are dismissed by one who exclaimed, *J*6terai aux natiom U btmdtau de
Verreur,*
* Decline and Fall, chap, xlviii. vol. vi. p. 70, edit. Smith.
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DIVISIONS OF BYZANTINE HISTORY, 9
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ments of the emperors, and the great merits of the judicial
and ecclesiastical establishments, will be contrasted with their
faults.
The history of the Byzantine empire divides itself into
three periods, strongly marked by distinct characteristics.
The first period commences with the reign of Leo III. in
716, and terminates with that of Michael III. in 867. It
comprises the whole history of the predominance of the
Iconoclasts in the established church, and of the reaction
which reinstated the orthodox in power. It opens with the
efforts by which Leo and the people of the empire saved
Roman law and Christianity from the conquering Saracens.
It embraces a long and violent struggle between the govern-
ment and the p.eople, the emperors seeking to increase the
central power by annihilating every local franchise, and even
the right of private opinion, among their subjects. The
contest concerning image-worship, from the prevalence of
ecclesiastical ideas, became the expression of this struggle.
Its object was as much to consolidate the supremacy of the
imperial authority, as to purify the practice of the church.
The emperors wished to constitute themselves the fountains
of ecclesiastical as conTpletely as of civil l^islation.
The long and bloody wars of this period, and the vehement
character of the sovereigns who filled the throne, attract the
attention of those who love to dwell on the romantic facts of
history. Unfortunately, the biographical sketches and in-
dividual characters of the heroes of these ages lie concealed
in the dullest chronicles. But the true historical feature
of this memorable period is the aspect of a declining empire,
saved by the moral vigour developed in society, and of
the central authority struggling to restore national prosperity.
Never was such a succession of able sovereigns seen following
one another on any other throne. The stern Iconoclast, Leo
the Isaurian, opens the line as the second founder of the
Eastern Empire. His son, the fiery Constantine, who was
said to prefer the odour of the stable to the perfumes of his
palaces, replanted the Christian standards on the banks of
the Euphrates. Irene, the beautiful Athenian, presents a
strange combination of talent, heartlessness, and orthodoxy.
The finance minister, Nicephorus, perishes on the field of
battle like an old Roman. The Armenian Leo falls at
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10 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.§i.
the altar of his private chapel, murdered as he is singing
psalms with his deep voice, before day-dawn. Michael the
Amorian, who stammered Greek with his native Phrygian
accent, became the founder of an imperial dynasty, destined
to be extinguished by a Sclavonian groom. The accom-
plished Theophilus lived in an age of romance, both in action
and literature. His son, Michael, the last of the Amorian
family, was the only contemptible prince of this period,
and he was certainly the most despicable buffoon that ever
occupied a throne.
The second period commences with the reign of Basil I.
in 867, and terminates with the deposition of Michael VI.
in 1057. During two centuries the imperial sceptre was
retained by members of the Basilian family, or held by
those who shared their throne as guardians or husbands.
At this time the Byzantine empire attained its highest pitch
of external power and internal prosperity. The Saracens
were pursued into the plains of Syria. Antioch and Edessa
were reunited to the empire. The Bulgarian monarchy was
conquered, and the Danube became again the northern
frontier. The Sclavonians in Greece were almost exter-
minated. Byzantine commerce filled the whole Mediter-
ranean, and legitimated the claim of the emperor of
Constantinople to the title of Autocrat of the Mediterranean
sea^. But the real glory of this period consists in the power
of the law. Respect for the administration of justice pervaded
society more generally than it had ever done at any preceding
period of the history of the world — a fact which our greatest
historians have overlooked, though it is all-important in the
history of human civilization.
The third period extends from the accession of Isaac I.
(Comnenus) in 1057, to the conquest of the Byzantine empire
by the Crusaders in 1204. This is the true period of the
decline and fall of the Eastern Empire. It commenced by
a rebellion of the great nobles of Asia, who effected an
internal revolution in the Byzantine empire by wrenching
the administration out of the hands of well-trained officials,
and destroying the responsibility created by systematic
* Constant. Porphyr. De Them. ii. p. 27 : Aid t^ rhv khroKfAropa EMfffToyra^oV'
w6k«ut QaXaacoKparuv fi^XP*^ rw 'lipa«\iovt (rrtfKwy ical vd<7rf$ 6fAoO r^t £5<
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VARIOUS NATIONS IN THE EMPIRE. II
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procedure. A despotism supported by personal influence
soon ruined the scientific fabric which had previously upheld
the imperial power. The people were ground to the earth by
a fiscal rapacity, over which the splendour of the house of
Comnenus throws a thin veil. The wealth of the empire was
dissipated, its prosperity destroyed, the administration of
justice corrupted, and the central authority lost all control
over the population, when a band of 20,000 adventurers,
masked as crusaders, put an end to the Roman empire of the
East
In the eighth and ninth centuries the Byzantine empire
continued to embrace many nations differing from the Greeks
in language and manners. Even in religion there was a
strong tendency to separation, and many of the heresies
noticed in history assumed a national character, while the
orthodox church circumscribed itself more and more within
the nationality of the Greeks, and forfeited its oecumenical
characteristics. The empire still included within its limits
Romans^ Greeks, Armenians, Isaurians, Lycaonians, Phry-
gians, Syrians, and Gallo-Grecians. The great Thracian race,
which had once been inferior in number only to the Indian,
and which, in the first century of our era, had excited the
attention of Vespasian by the extent of the territory it
occupied, had now almost disappeared ^. Great part of the
country formerly peopled by the Thracian race was now
peopled by Sclavonian tribes. A diminished Greek and
Roman population survived in the towns, and the Bulgarians,
a Turkish tribe, ruled as the dominant race from Mount
Haemus to the Danube. The range of Mount Haemus
generally formed the Byzantine frontier to the north, and its
mountain passes were guarded by imperial garrisons ^. Scla-
vonian colonies had established themselves over all the
European provinces, and penetrated into the Peloponnesus.
The military government of Strymon, above the passes in the
plain of Heraclea Sintica, was formed to prevent the country
to the south of Mounts Orbelus and Skomius from becoming
an independent Sclavonian state.
* Herod, v. 3 ; Enstathius Thess. Comm. in Dionys. Periegetem, v. 323.
• The country within Mount Haemus, called Zagora, was only ceded to the
Bulgarians in the reign of Michael HI. Scriptores post Theoph, ; Contin. loa ; ibid.
Symeoo Mag. 440; Cedrenus, 1. 446; ii. 541.
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[Bk.I.Ch.I. § I.
The provincial divisions of the Roman empire had fallen
into oblivion. A new geographical arrangement into Themes
appears to have been established by Heraclius, when he
recovered the Asiatic provinces from the Persians: it was
reorganized by Leo, and endured as long as the Byzantine
government \ The number of themes varied at different
periods. The Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, writing
about the middle of the tenth century, counts sixteen in the
Asiatic portion of the empire, and twelve in the European.
Seven great themes are particularly prominent in Asia
Minor 2, Optimaton, Opsikion, the Thrakesian, the Anatolic,
the Bukellarian, the Kibyrraiot, and the Armeniac. In each
of these a large military force was permanently maintained,
under the command of a general of the province ; and in
Opsikion, the Thrakesian, and the Kibyrraiot, a naval force
was likewise stationed under its own officers. The com-
manders of the troops were called Strategoi, those of the
navy Drungarioi. Several subordinate territorial divisions
existed, called Tourms, and separate military commands were
frequently established for the defence of important passes,
traversed by great lines of communication, called Kleisouras.
Several of the ancient nations in Asia Minor still continued to
preserve their national peculiarities, and this circumstance has
* The Jerm thema was first applied to the Roman legion. The military districts,
garrisoned by legions, were then called themata, and ultimately the word was used
merely to indicate geographical administrative divisions. Ducange, Glossartum
med. et inf. GraecUatis,
* The Asiatic themes were: — i. Anaiolikon, including parts of Phrygia, Ly-
caonia, Isauria, Pamphylia, and Pisidia. 2. The Armeniac^ including Pontus and
Cappadocia. 3. The Thrakesian, part of Phrygia, Lydia, and Ionia. 4. Opsikion,
Mysia, and pa'rt of Bithynia stad Phrygia. 5. Optimaton, the part of Bithynia
towards the Bosphorus. 6. Bukellarion, Galatia. 7. Paphlagonia. 8. Chaldia,
the country about Trebizond. 9. Mesopotamia, the trifling possessions of the
empire on the Mesopotamian frontier. 10. Koloneia, the country between Pontus
and Armenia Minor, through which the Lycus flows, near Neocaesarea. 11. ^
basteia, the second Armenia {Script, post Theoph. 112). 12. Lycandos, a theme
formed by Leo VI. (the Wise) on the borders of Armenia. 13. The Kibyrraiot,
Caria, Lycia, and the coast of Cilicia. 14. Cyprus. 15. Samos. 16. 7^ Aegean,
Cappadocia is mentioned as a theme {Script, post Theoph. 112) and Charsiania
(Genesius, 46). They had formed part of the Armeniac theme.
The twelve European themes were: — i. Thrace. 2. Macedonia. 3. Strymom,
4. Thessalonica. 5. Hellas. 6. Peloponnesus. 7. Cephallenia. 8. Nicopolis. 9. Dyr-
rachium. 10. Sicily, ii. Longibardia (Calabria). 12. Cherson. The islands of
the Archipelago, which form^ the i6th Asiatic theme, were the usual station
of the European naval squadron, imder the conunand of a Drungarios. They are
often called Dodekanesos, and their admiral was an officer of consideration at the
end of the eighth century. Theoph. 383. The list of the themes given by Con-
stantine Porphyrogenitus is traditional, not from official documents. Cyppus and
Sicily had been conquered by the Arabs long before he wrote.
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LEO THE ISAURIAN. 1 3
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induced the Byzantine writers frequently to mention their
countries as recognised geographical divisions of the empire.
The European provinces were divided into eight continental
and five insular or transmarine themes, until the loss of the
exarchate of Ravenna reduced the number to twelve. Venice
and Naples, though they acknowledged the suzerainty of the
£astem Empire, acted generally as independent cities. Sar-
dinia was lost about the time of Leo's accession, and the
circumstances attending its conquest by the Saracens are
unknown.
The ecclesiastical divisions of the empire underwent fre-
quent modifications ; but after the provinces of Epirus, Greece,
and Sicily were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Pope,
and placed under that of the Patriarch of Constantinople by
Leo III., that patriarchate embraced the whole Byzantine
empire. It was then divided into 5a metropolitan dioceses,
which were subdivided into 649 suffragan bishoprics, and
13 archbishoprics, in which the prelates were independent
(aJToic€4>aAot), but without any siifiragans. There were, more-
over, 34 titular archbishops^.
Sect. II. — Reign of Leo III. {ike Isaurian), A.D. 716-7412.
Saracen war. — Siege of Constantinople. — Circumstances ^vourable to Leo's
reforms. — Fables concerning Leo. — Military, financial, and legal reforms. —
Ecclesiastical policy. — Rebellion in Greece. — Papal opposition.^ Physical phe-
When Leo was raised to the throne, the empire was threat-
ened with immediate ruin. Six emperors had been dethroned
within the space of twenty-one years. Of these, four perished
by the hand of the public executioner^, one died in obscurity,
after being deprived of sight*, and the other was only allowed
to end his days peacefully in a monastery, because Leo felt
the imperial sceptre firmly fixed in his own grasp*. Every
* Compare Codinns, NotUiae Graecorum Episeopatuum, with the index to the
first ▼olume of Le Quien, Oriens ChrisHanu$,
• The most complete work on the history of the Iconoclast period is that of
Sdilosser, Gesckichu dir BUdenturmenditt Kaistr, 181 2. It is a work of learning
and original research.
• Lectins, Tiberius III. (Apsimar), Justinian 11., Philippicus.
* Anastasius II. • Theodosius III.
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army assembled to encounter the Saracens had broken out
into rebellion. The Bulgarians and Sclavonians wasted Europe
up to the walls of Constantinople ; the Saracens ravaged the
whole of Asia Minor to the shores of the Bosphorus.
Amorium was the principal city of the theme Anatolikon^.
The Caliph Suleiman sent his brother, Moslemah, with a
numerous army, to complete the conquest of the Roman
empire, which appeared to be an enterprise of no extra-
ordinary difficulty, and Amorium was besieged by the Sara-
cens. Leo, who commanded the Byzantine troops, required
some time to concert the operations by which he hoped to
raise the siege. To gain the necessary delay, he opened
negotiations with the invaders, and, under the pretext of
hastening the conclusion of the treaty, he visited the Saracen
general engaged in the siege with an escort of only 500 horse.
The Saracens were invited to suspend their attacks until the
decision of Moslemah — ^who was at the head of another
division of the Mohammedan army — could be known. In
an interview which took place with the bishop and principal
inhabitants of Amorium, relating to the proffered terms, Leo
contrived to exhort them to continue their defence, and assured
them of speedy succour. The besiegers, nevertheless, pressed
forward their approaches. Leo, after his interview with the
Amorians, proposed that the Saracen general should accom-
pany him to the headquarters of Moslemah. The Saracen
readily agreed to an arrangement which would enable him
to deliver so important a hostage to the commander-in-chief.
The wary Isaurian, who well knew that he would be closely
watched, had made his plan of escape. On reaching a narrow
defile, from which a cross road led to the advanced posts of
his own army, Leo suddenly drew his sabre and attacked the
Saracens about his person ; while his guards, who were pre-
pared for the signal, easily opened a way through the two
thousand hostile cavalry of the escort, and all reached the
Byzantine camp in safety. Leo's subsequent military disposi-
tions and diplomatic negotiations induced the enemy to raise
the siege of Amorium, and the grateful inhabitants united
with the army in saluting him Emperor of the Romans. But
* Amorium was at the ruins called Hergan Kaleh. Hamilton, Researches in
Asia Minor f i. 452 ; Leakeys Tour in Asia Minor, 86.
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in his arrangements with Moslemah, he is accused by his
enemies of having agreed to conditions which facilitated the
further progress of the Mohammedans, in order to secure his
own march to Constantinople. On this march he was opposed
by the son of Theodosius III., whom he defeated. Theodo-
sius resigned his crown, and retired into a monastery ^ : Leo
made his triumphal entry into the capital by the Golden
Gate, and was crowned by the Patriarch in the church of St.
Sophia on the :i5th of March 717.
The position of Leo continued to be one of extreme diffi-
culty. The Caliph Suleiman, who had seen one private
adventurer succeed the other in quick succession on the impe-
rial throne, deemed the moment favourable for the final
conquest of the Christians ; and he ordered his brother
Moslemah, whose army he reinforced, to lay siege to Con-
stantinople. The Saracen empire had now reached its
greatest extent. From the banks of the Jihun and the Indus
to the shores of the Atlantic in Mauretania and Spain, the
orders of Suleiman were implicitly obeyed. The conquest
of Spain in the West, and of Fergana, Cashgar, and Sind in
the East, had animated the confidence of the Mohammedans
to such a degree that no enterprise appeared difficult. The
army Moslemah led against Constantinople was the best-
appointed that had ever been assembled by the followers of
Mahomet to attack the Christians : it consisted of eighty
thousand warriors. The caliph announced his intention of
taking the field in person with additional forces, should the
capital of the Christians offer a protracted resistance to the
arms of Islam. The whole expedition is said to have em-
ployed one hundred and eighty thousand men; and the
number does not appear to be greatly exaggerated, if it be
supposed to include the sailors of the fleet, and the reinforce-
ments which reached the camp before Constantinople ^.
Moslemah, after capturing Pergamos, marched to Abydos,
* Theodosius ended his life at Ephesus. where he was buried in the church of
St. Philip. He ordered that his tombstone should bear no inscription but the
word TTIEIA— • Health.'
* Compare Const. Porphyr. De Adm. Imp. c. ai, p. 74, with Weil, Geschiehie der
Chcdifen^ i. 566, 571, note^ and Price, Mahommedan Empire, i. 518. These numbers
enable us to estimate the credit due to the Western chronicles concerning the
plundering expedition of Abd-el-Rahman into France, which was defeated by
Charles Martel. Paulus Diaconus (lib. vi. c. 47) says that three hundred thousand
Saracens perished during the siege of Constantinople.
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where he was joined by the Saracen fleet. He then trans-
ported his army across the Hellespont, and, marching along
the shore of the Propontis, invested Leo in his capital both by
land and sea. The strong walls of Constantinople and the
engines of defence with which Roman and Greek art had
covered the ramparts, directed by the skill of the Byzantine
engineers, rendered eyery attempt to carry the place by assault
hopeless, so that the Saracens were compelled to trust to the
eff*ect of a strict blockade for gaining possession of the city.
They surrounded their camp with a deep ditch, and strength-
ened it with a strong dyke. Moslemah then sent out large
detachments to collect forage and destroy the provisions,
which might otherwise find their way into the besieged city.
The presence of an active enemy and a populous city required
constant vigilance on the part of a great portion of his land
forces.
The Saracen fleet consisted of eighteen hundred vessels of
war and transports. In order to form the blockade, it was
divided into two squadrons : one was stationed on the Asiatic
coast, in the ports of Eutropius^ and Anthimus, to prevent
supplies arriving from the Archipelago; the other occupied
the bay oii the European shore above the point of Galata, in
order to cut off all communication with the Black Sea and
the cities of Cherson and Trebizond. The first naval engage-
ment took place as the fleet was taking up its position within
the Bosphorus. The current, rendered impetuous by a change
of wind, threw the heavy ships and transports into confusion.
The besieged directed some fireships against the crowded
vessels, and succeeded in burning several, and driving others
on shore under the walls of Constantinople. The Saracen
admiral, Suleiman, confident in the number of his remaining
ships of war, resolved to avenge his partial defeat by a com-
plete victory. He placed one hundred chosen Arabs, in
complete armour, in each of his best vessels, and, advancing
to the walls of Constantinople, made a vigorous attempt to
enter the place by assault, as it was entered long after by
Doge Dandolo. Leo was well prepared to repulse the attack,
and, under his experienced guidance, the Arabs were com-
pletely defeated. A number of the Saracen ships were
^ Mondi Bumou.
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burned by the Greek fire which the besieged launched from
their walls ^. After this defeat, Suleiman withdrew the Euro-
pean squadron of his fleet into the Sosthenian bay.
The besi^ers encamped before Constantinople on the 15th
August 717. The Caliph Suleiman died before he was able
to send any reinforcements to his brother. The winter proved
unusually severe. The country all round Constantinople
remained covered with deep snow for many weeks 2. The
greater part of the horses and camels in the camp of Moslemah
perished; numbers of the best soldiers, accustomed to the
mild winters of Syria, died from having neglected to take the
requisite precautions against the cold of a northern climate.
The difficulty of procuring food ruined the discipline of the
troops. These misfortunes were increased by the untimely
death of the admiral, Suleiman. In the mean time, Leo and
the inhabitants of Constantinople, having made the necessary
preparations for a long siege, passed the winter in security.
A fleet, fitted out at Alexandria, brought supplies to Mos-
lemah in spring. Four hundred transports, escorted by men-
of-war, sailed past Constantinople, and, entering the Bos-
phorus, took up their station at Kalos Agros^. Another
fleet, almost equally numerous, arrived soon after from Africa,
and anchored in the bays on the Bithynian coast*. These
positions rendered the current a protection against the fire-
ships of the garrison of Constantinople. The crews of the
new transports were in great part composed of Christians,
and the weak condition of Moslemah*s army filled them with
fear. Many conspired to desert. Seizing the boats of their
respective vessels during the night, numbers escaped to
Constantinople, where they informed the emperor of the exact
disposition of the whole Saracen force. Leo lost no time in
* On the subject of Greek fire, see Rdnaud et Fav^, Du Feu Gregois^ chap, iii.,
ParU, 1845 ; and I^aravey, Mhnoire sur la Dieouvertt tris-aneienne en Asie de la
Poudre d Canon et des Armes a Feu, Paris, 1850. The efficacity of Greek fire arose
frcnn the drcumstance of the combatants being compelled to bring large masses
into closer Tidnity and more direct collision than in modem tactics.
* Theophanes (332) and Nicephorus Patr (35), with the ordinary love of the
nanrelloas, say the snow covered the ground for a hundred days.
* Bayuk-der^, and not a place in Bithynia, as Le Beau {Histoire du Bas-Empire,
xiL 115) and Schlosser {Ge^chickte der bilderstiirmenden Kaiser, 151) infer from
Nioei^ Pat. 35. See Ducange. Const, Christ. 177; and Gyllius, De Bospk, Thrac,
H. chap, xviii. p. 301.
* Theophanes (333) says this fleet consisted of 360 transports. It anchored at
SaUyros, Bryas, a^ Kartalimeo.
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taking advantage of the enemy's embarrassments. Fireships
were sent with a favourable wind among the transports, while
ships of war, furnished with engines for throwing Greek fire,
increased the confusion. This bold attack was successful, and
a part of the naval force of the Saracens was destroyed.
Some ships fell a prey to the flames, some were driven on
shore, and some were captured by the Byzantine squadron.
The blockade was now at an end ; Moslemah's troops were
dying from want, while the besieged were living in plenty;
but the Saracen obstinately persisted in maintaining pos-
session of his camp in Europe. It was not until his foraging
parties were repeatedly cut off", and all the beasts of burden
were consumed as food, that he consented to allow the
standard of the Prophet to retreat before the Christians.
The remains of his army were embarked in the relics of the
fleet, and on the 15th of August 718, Moslemah raised the
siege, after ruining one of the finest armies the Saracens ever
assembled, by obstinately persisting in a hopeless undertaking*.
The troops were landed at Proconnesus, and marched back
to Damascus, through Asia Minor ; but the fleet encountered
a violent storm in passing through the Archipelago. The
dispersed ships were pursued by the Greeks of the islands,
and so many were lost or captured that only five of the
Syrian squadron returned home.
Few military details concerning Leo*s defence of Constan-
tinople have been preserved, but there can be no doubt that
it was one of the most brilliant exploits of a warlike age.
The Byzantine army was superior to every other in the art of
defending fortresses. The Roman arsenals, in their best days,
could probably have supplied no scientific or mechanical
contrivance unknown to the corps of engineers of Leo's army,
for we must recollect that the education, discipline, and prac-
tice of these engineers had been perpetuated in uninterrupted
succession from the times of Trajan and Constantine. We
are not to estimate the decline of mechanical science by the
degradation of art, nor by the decay of military power in the
field ^. The depopulation of Europe rendered soldiers rare
* Theoph. 334. Nicephonis Pat. (35), however, says the siege lasted thirteen
months. The Mohammedan accounts report, that of the one hundred and eighty
thousand men who composed the expedition, only thirty thousand returned.
* It was in the time of Constantius, a.d. 35 ;» that the largest obelisk at Rome
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and dear, and a considerable part of the Byzantine armies
was composed of foreign mercenaries. The army of Leo,
though far inferior in number to that of Moslemah, was its equal
in discipline and military skill ; while the walls of Constan-
tinople were garnished with engines from the ancient arsenals
of the city, far exceeding in power and number any with
which the Arabs had been in the habit of contending. The
vanity of Gallic writers has magnified the success of Charles
Martel over a plundering expedition of the Spanish Arabs
into a marvellous victory, and attributed the deliverance of
Europe from the Saracen yoke to the valour of the Franks.
But it was the defeat of the great army of the Saracens before
Constantinople by Leo IIL which first arrested the torrent of
Mohammedan conquest, although Europe refuses her gratitude
to the iconoclast hero who averted the greatest religious,
political, and ethnological revolution with which she has ever
been threatened. A veil has been thrown over the talents
and courage of Leo, who though just seated on the imperial
throne, defeated the long-planned schemes of conquest of the
caliphs Welid and Suleiman. It is unfortunate that we have
no Isaurian literature.
The catastrophe of Moslemah's army, and the state of the
caliphate during the reigns of Omar IL and Yesid II., re-
lieved the empire from all immediate danger, and Leo was
enabled to pursue his schemes for reorganizing the army and
defending his dominions against future invasions. The war
was languidly carried on for some years, and the Saracens
were gradually expelled from most of their conquests beyond
Mount Taurus. In the year 7a6, Leo was embarrassed by
seditions and rebellions, caused by his decrees against image-
worship. Hescham seized the opportunity, and sent two
powerful armies to invade the empire. Caesarea was taken
by Moslemah ; while another army, under Moawyah, pushing
forward, laid siege to Nicaea. Leo was well pleased to see
the Saracens consume their resources in attacking a distant
fortress ; but though they were repulsed before Nicaea, they
was transported from Alexandria. It stands at St. John Lateran, and is said to
weigh 445 tons. (?) Sir Gardner Wilkinson makes the great obelisk at Kamak
weigh less than three hundred tons. Modem Egypt and Thebes^ ii. 145. [Set
Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 4), who gives an account of the process of trans-
porting this obelisk from Heliopolis to Alexandria, and from thence to Rome, and
of erecting it there. Ed.]
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retreated without serious loss, carrying off immense plunder.
The plundering excursions of the Arabs were frequently
renewed by land and sea. In one of these expeditions, the
celebrated Sid-al-Battal carried off an individual who was set
up by the Saracens as a pretender to the Byzantine throne,
under the pretext that he was Tiberius, the son of Justinian II.
Two sons of the caliph appeared more than once at the head of
the invading armies. In the year 739, the Saracen forces
poured into Asia Minor in immense numbers, with all their
early energy. Leo, who had taken the command of the
Byzantine army, accompanied by his son Constantine, marched
to meet Sid-al-Battal, whose great fame rendered him the
most dangerous enemy. A battle took place at Acrolnon, m
the Anatolic theme, in which the Saracens were totally de-
feated. The valiant Sid, the most renowned champion of
Islamism, perished on the field ; but the fame of his exploits
has filled many volumes of Moslem romance, and furnished
some of the tales that have adorned the memory of the Cid of
Spain, three hundred years after the victory of Leo ^. The
Western Christians have robbed the Byzantine empire of its
glory in every way. After this defeat the Saracen power
ceased to be formidable to the empire, until the energy of the
caliphate was revived by the vigorous ajlministration of the
Abassides.
Leo's victories over the Mohammedans were an indispens-
able step to the establishment of his personal authority. But
the measures of administrative wisdom which rendered his
reign a new era in Roman history, are its most important
feature in the annals of the human race. His military ex-
ploits were the result of ordinary virtues, and of talents
common in every age ; but the ability to reform the internal
government of an empire, in accordance with the exigencies of
society, can only be appreciated by those who have made the
causes and the progress of national revolutions the object of
long thought. The intellectual superiority of Leo may be
estimated by the incompetence of sovereigns in the present
* Acrolnon was doubtless at Sid-el-Ghazi, nine hours to the south of Eskishehr
(Dorylaeum), where the tomb of Sid-al-Battal-el-Ghazi is still shown. Leake,
Asia Minor, 3i. Weil {Gesehichte der Chali/en, i. 638) calls the hero Abd Allah ;
while d'Herbelot {Bibliothique Oritntale, «. v. • Batthal ') calls him Abu Mohammed.
Theophanes (345) calls him simply BardX, See also Hammer, HUtoire dt PEmpir$
Ottoman, par Hellert, i. 60, 37a.
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century to meet new exigencies of society. Leo judiciously
availed himself of many circumstances that favoured his
reforms. The inherent vigour which is nourished by parochial
and municipal responsibilities, bound together the remnants of
the free population in the eastern Roman empire, and operated
powerfully in resisting foreign domination. The universal
respect felt for the administration of justice, and the general
deference paid to the ecclesiastical establishment, inspired the
inhabitants with energies wanting in the West. Civilization
was so generally diffused, that the necessity of upholding the
civil and ecclesiastical tribunals, and defending the channels
of commercialjntercourse, reunited a powerful body of the
people in every province to the central administration, by the
strongest ties of interest and feeling.
The oppressive authority of the court of Constantinople
had been much weakened by the anarchy that prevailed
throughout the empire in the latter part of the seventh
century. The government had been no longer able to inun-
date the provinces with those bands of officials who had
previously consumed the wealth of the curia; and the local
authorities in each city had been compelled to provide for its
defence by assuming powers hitherto reserved to the imperial
officers. These new duties had inspired the people with new
vigour, and developed unexpected talents. The fiscal guaran-
tees, and the restrictions on individual action by which the
administration of imperial Rome fettered the industry of its
subjects, from the senator to the ticket-porter, were lightened
when the Western Empire fell a prey to foreign conquerors,
and when the Eastern became filled with foreign colonists ^
The curiales and the corporations at last relieved themselves
from the attempt of the Roman government to fix society in
a stationary condition, and the relief was followed by imme-
diate improvement. Troubled times had also made the clergy
more anxious to conciliate public opinion than official favour.
A better and more popular class of bishops replaced the
worldly priests satirized by Gregory Nazianzenus *. The
influence of this change was very great, for the bishop, as
the defender of the curia, and the real head of the people
' Compare Cod, Tkeod. vi. 11 ; De Senator ibus; and xiv. 22\ De Saceariis.
' Carmen ad Episcopot^ v. 145.
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in the municipality, enjoyed extensive authority over the
corporations of artisans and the mass of the labouring popu-
lation. From a judge he gradually acquired the power of
a civil governor, and the curia became his senate. The
ordinary judicial tribunals being cut off from direct com-
munication with the supreme courts, peculiar local usages
gained force, and a customary law arose in many provinces
restricting the application of the code of Justinian. The
orthodox church alone preserved its unity of character, and
its priests continued to be guided by principles of centraliza-
tion, which preserved their connection with the seat of the
patriarchate at Constantinople, without injuring the energetic
spirit of their local resistance to the progress of the Moham-
medan power. Throughout the wide extent of the Eastern
Empire, the priesthood served as a bond to connect the local
feelings of the parish with the general interests of the orthodox
church. Its authority was, moreover, endeared to a large
body of the population from its language being Greek, and
from, its holy legends embodying national feelings and pre-
judices. Repulsive as the lives of the saints now appear
to our taste, they were the delight of millions for many
centuries.
From the earliest period to the present hour, the wealth of
most of the cities in the East has been derived from their
importance as points of commercial communication. The
insane fury of the Emperor Justinian II., in devastating the
flourishing cities of Ravenna and Cherson, failed to ruin these
places, because they were then great commercial entrep6ts
of the trade between India and Europe. The alarm felt for
the ruin of commerce throughout the Christian world, during
the anarchy that existed in the last years of the seventh and
early years of the eighth centuries, contributed much to render
men contented with the firm government of Leo, even though
they may have considered him a heretic. On the other hand,
the anarchy prevailing in the central administration had
relieved commerce both from much fiscal oppression and
many ofBcial monopolies. The moment the financial burdens
of the commercial classes were lightened, they experienced all
the advantage of possessing a systematic administration of
justice, enforced by a fixed legal procedure, and consequently
they very naturally became warm partisans of the imperial
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authority, as, in their opinion, the personal influence of the
emperor constituted the true fountain of legal order and
judicial impartiality. A fixed legislation saved society from
dissolution during many years of anarchy.
The obscure records of the eighth century allow us to
discern through their dim atmosphere a considerable increase
of power in popular feelings, and they even afford some
glimpses of the causes of this new energy. The fermentation
which then pervaded Christian society marks the commence-
ment of modem civilization, as contrasted with ancient times.
Its force arose out of the general diminution of slave labour.
The middle classes in the towns were no longer rich enough
to be purchasers of slaves, consequently the slave population
henceforward became a minority in the Eastern Empire ; and
those democratic ideas which exist among free labourers
replaced the aristocratic caution, inseparable from the neces-
sity of watching a numerous population of slaves. The
general attention was directed to the equal administration of
justice. The emperor alone appeared to be removed above
the influence of partiality and bribery; under his powerful
protection the masses hoped to escape official and aristocratic
oppression, by the systematic observance of the rules of
Roman law. The prosperity of commerce seemed as directly
connected with the imperial supremacy as judicial equity
itself, for the power of the emperor could alone enforce one
uniform system of customs from Cherson to Ravenna. Every
trader, and indeed every citizen, felt that the apparatus of
the imperial government was necessary to secure financial
and legal unity. Above all, Leo, the conqueror of the hitherto
victorious Saracens, seemed the only individual who possessed
the civil as well as the military talents necessary for averting
the ruin of the empire. Thus many circumstances conduced
to favour the schemes and fashion the policy of Leo, and
to convert the strong attachment to the laws of Rome pre-
valent in society into a lever of political power, and to render
the devotion felt for the personal authority of the sovereign
a means of increasing the centralization of power in the
reformed fabric of the Roman administration. The laws of
Rome, therefore, rather than the military power of the em-
peror, saved Christianity. The direct result of the victories of
Leo in the field only enabled him to consolidate his power
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and to give the imperial administration its Byzantine type, in
defiance of the Greek nation and the orthodox church.
As long as Mohammedanism was only placed in collision
with the fiscal ity of the Roman government and the intoler-
ance of the orthodox church, the Saracens were everywhere
victorious, and found everywhere Christian allies in the pro-
vinces they invaded. But when anarchy and misfortune had
destroyed the fiscal power of the state, and weakened the
ecclesiastical intolerance of the clergy, a new point of com-
parison between the governments of the emperors and the
caliphs presented itself to the attention. The question, how
justice was administered in the ordinary relations of life,
became of vital interest. The code of Justinian was compared
with that of the Koran. The courts presided over by judges
and bishops were compared with those in which Mohammedan
lawyers dispensed justice, and the feelings which arose in the
breasts of the subjects of the Byzantine emperors changed the
current of events. The torrent of Mohammedan conquest was
arrested, and as long as Roman law was cultivated in the
empire, and administered under proper control in the pro-
vinces, the invaders of the Byzantine territory were everywhere
unsuccessful. The inhabitants boasted with a just pride that
they lived under the systematic rule of the Roman law, and
not under the arbitrary sway of despotic power \
Such was the state of the Roman empire when Leo com-
menced his reforms. We must now proceed to examine what
history has recorded concerning this great reformer.
Leo was born at Germanicia, a city of Armenia Minor, in
the mountains near the borders of Cappadocia and Syria ^.
Germanicia was taken by the Saracens, and the parents of
Leo emigrated with their son to Mesembria in Thrace. They
^ Every emperor was bound to make a confession of faith in a certain formula,
Kccrh. rd kOifjiov, Genesius, p. ii, edit. Venet. Compare the coronation oath in
Codinus, De Officiis Constant, c xvii., with Corpus Juris Civ. i. 14. 4, 5 ; Basilica^
ii. 6. 9, 10; see also Constant. Porphyr. De Adm, Imp, p. 64, and the Edoga of
Leo III. in Leunclavius and Freher, Jtis Qraeco-Romanum^ i. p. 1 78 ; ii. p. 83 ;
tit. ii. § 4.
• The family of Leo, being neither Greek nor Roman, was regarded by these
nations as foreign. The Isaurians appear to have been the subjects of the empire
who had retained the greatest share of their original nationality. The Armenians
and Syrians, though numerous, were always regarded as strangers rather than
hereditary subjects. Theophanes (327, 330) and Anastasius {Hist, ia8) call Leo
a Syrian. He seems to have considered himself an Armenian, and he married his
daughter to an Armenian.
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were persons of sufficient wealth to make the Emperor Justi-
nian 11. a present of five hundred sheep, as he was advancing
to regain possession of his throne with the assistance of the
Bulgarians. This well-timed gift gained young Leo the rank
of spatharios, the personal favour of the tyrant, and a high
command on the Lazian frontier. His prudence and courage
raised him, during the reign of Anastasius II., to the command
of the Anatolic theme.
But another history of his life, unknown to the early
historians, Theophanes and Nicephorus, though both these
orthodox writers were his bitter enemies and detractors,
became current in after times, and deserves notice as pre-
senting us with a specimen of the tales which then fed the
mental appetite of the Greeks ^ Some fables concerning his
life and fortunes owe their existence to the aversion with
which his religious opinions were regarded by the Greeks.
They supply us, in all probability, with a correct portraiture
of the popular mind, but they certainly do not furnish us with
accurate materials for Leo's biography. Prodigies, prophecies,
and miracles were universally believed. Restricted communi-
cations and n^lected education were conducting society to an
infantine dotage. Every unusual event was said to have been
predicted by some prophetic revelation ; and as the belief in
the prescience of futurity was universal, public deceivers and
self-deceivers were always found acting the part of prophets.
It IS said to have been foretold to Leontius that he should
ascend the throne, by two monks and an abbot ^. The
restoration of Justinian II. had been announced to him, while
he was in exile, by a hermit of Cappadocia^ Philippicus had
it revealed in a dream, that he Was to become emperor ; and
he was banished by Tiberius II. (Apsimar), when this vision
became publicly known*. It is not, therefore, wonderful that
Leo should have been honoured with communications from
the other world ; though, as might have been expected from
his heretical opinions and the orthodoxy of his historians,
these communications are represented to have been made by
agents from the lower rather than the higher r^ions.
^ Compare Theophanes (336), who has do objections to calumniate Leo, with
the later writers, Cedrenus. 450; Zonaras, ii. 103; Const. Manasses, 86; Glycas,
a8o ; Leo Gramm. 1 73, edit. Bonn.
* Theoph. 307; Niceph. Pat 25. » Theoph. 313. * Ih. 311, 3*9*
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26 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
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A circumstance which it is believed had happened to the
Caliph Yezid I., proved most satisfactorily to the Greeks that
Satan often transacted business publicly by means of his
agents on earth. Two Jews— for Jews are generally selected
by the orthodox as the fittest agents of the demon — presented
themselves to the caliph claiming the gift of prophecy. They
announced that, if he should put an end to the idolatrous
worship of images throughout his dominions, fate had pre-
destined him to reign for forty years over a rich and flourishing
empire. Yezid was a man of pleasure and a bigot, so that the
prophecy was peculiarly adapted to flatter his passions. The
images and pictures which adorned the Christian churches
were torn down and destroyed throughout the caliph's domi-
nions. But while Yezid was carrying his decree into execution
he died. His son, Moawyah II., sought the Jewish prophets
in vain, in order that he might punish them as impostors.
The prince of darkness concealed them from his search, and
transported them into the heart of Asia Minor, where they had
new services to perform.
A young man named Conon, who had quitted his native
mountains of Isauria to gain his living as a pedlar in the
wealthier plains, drove his ass, laden with merchandise, to
a grove of evergreen oaks near a bubbling fountain that he
might rest during the heat of the day, and count his recent
gains. The ass was turned loose to pasture in the little
meadow formed by the stream of the fountain, and Conon sat
down in the shade, by the chapel of St. Theodore, to eat his
frugal meal. He soon perceived two travellers resting like
himself, and enjoying their noontide repast. These travellers
entered into conversation with young Conon, who was a lad of
remarkable strength, beauty, and intelligence. They allowed
the fact to transpire that they were Jews, prophets and astrolo-
gers, who had recently quitted the court of the caliph at Damas-
cus, which very naturally awakened in the mind of the young
pedlar a wish to know his future fortune, for he may have
aspired at becoming a great post-contractor or a rich banker.
The two Jews readily satisfied his curiosity, and, to his utter
astonishment, informed him that he was destined to rule the
Roman empire. As a proof of their veracity, the prophets
declared that they sought neither wealth nor honours for
themselves, but they conjured Conon to promise solemnly
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that, when he ascended the throne, he would put an end to
the idolatry which disgraced Christianity in the East. If he
engaged to do this, they assured him that his fulfilling the
will of Heaven would bring prosperity to himself and to the
empire. Young Conon, believing that the prophets had
revealed the will of God, pledged himself to purify the
Christian church ; and he kept this promise, when he ascended
the throne as Leo the Isaurian. But as the prophets had made
no stipulation for the free exercise of their own creed, he did
not consider himself guilty of ingratitude, when, as emperor,
he persecuted the Jewish religion with the greatest severity.
In the opinion of the historians who repeated this tale, it
seems that Satan took no care of the Jews.
Such is the fable by which the later Byzantine historians
explain Leo's hostility to image-worship. This adventure
appeared to them a probable origin of the ecclesiastical
reforms which characterize Leo's domestic policy. In the
bright days of Hellenic genius, such materials would have
been woven into an immortal myth; the chapel of St.
Theodore, its fountain, and its evergreen oaks, Conon driving
his ass with the two unearthly Jews reclining in the shade,
would have formed a picture familiar to the minds of
millions ; but in the hands of ignorant monks and purblind
chroniclers, it sinks into a dull and improbable narrative.
Unfortunately, it is almost as difficult to ascertain the
precise legislative and executive acts by which Leo re-
formed the military, financial, and l^jal administration, as
it is to obtain an impartial account of his ecclesiastical
measures.
The military establishment of the empire had gradually
lost its national character, from the impossibility of recruiting
the army from among Roman citizens. In vain the soldier's
son was fettered to his father's profession, as the artisan was
bound to his corporation, and the proprietor to his estate ^.
* The tendency of Roman despotism to reduce society to castes is remarkable.
Cod, Tk»od, yii 23. 8. This feeling may be traced to the last days of the Byzan-
tine power. Gemistos Plethon, in the projects of reform at the beginning of the
fifteenth century, by which he hoped to save the Peloponnesus from the Turks,
insists on the separation of the classes of soldiers and tax payers. See his me-
morial on the State of the Peloponnesus, addressed to the despot Theodore, at
the end of two books of Stobaeus, published by Canter, printed by Christopher
Plaotin, Antwerp, 1575, fol. p. a a a.
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Yet the superiority of the Roman armies seems to have
suffered little from the loss of national spirit, as long as strict
discipline was maintained in their ranks. For many centuries
the majority of the imperial forces consisted of conscripts
drawn from the lowest ranks of society, from the rude moun-
taineers of almost independent provinces, or from foreigners
hired as mercenaries; yet the armies of all invaders, from
the Goths to the Saracens, were repeatedly defeated in
pitched battles. The state maxims which separated the
servants of the emperor from the people, survived in the
Eastern provinces after the loss of the Western, and served
as the basis of the military policy of the Byzantine empire,
when reformed by Leo. The conditions of soldier and citizen
were deemed incompatible. The law prevented the citizen
from assuming the position of a soldier, and watched with
jealousy any attempt of the soldier to acquire the rights and
feelings of a citizen. An impassable barrier was placed
between the proprietor of the soil, who was the tax-payer,
and the defender of the state, who was an agent of the
imperial power ^ It is true that, after the loss of the Western
provinces, the Roman armies were recruited from the native
subjects of the empire to a much greater d^ree than for-
merly; and that, after the time of Heraclius, it became
impossible to enforce the fiscal arrangements to which the
separation of the citizen from the soldier owed its origin,
at least with the previous strictness ^. Still the old imperial
maxims were cherished in the reign of Leo, and the numerous
colonies of Sclavonians, and other foreigners, established in
the empire, owed their foundation to the supposed necessity
of seeking for recruits as little as possible from among the
native population of agriculturists. These colonies were
governed by peculiar regulations, and their most important
^ A fixed number of conscripts was drawn from each province after the time
of Constantine ; and the proprietors, who were prohibited from serving in person,
had to furnish conscripts. They were allowed to hire any freeman, b^;gar, or
barbarian, with youth and strength. When the recruitment became still more
difficult, on account of the diminished population, the Emperor Valens commuted
the conscription for a payment of thirty-six solidi for each conscript. Cod, Theod.
vii. 13. 7.
' For the Roman legislation relating to the army, see Cod, Just, x. 53. 17 ;
xi. 48. 18 ; xii. 33. a, 4; Dig. xlix. 16. 9, 13. Colons and serfs were prohibited
from entering the army even at those period of public calamity which compelled
the government to admit slaves' as recruits. The views of Gibbon (vol. ii. p. 324,
Smith's edit.) require to be modified.
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service was* supplying a number of troops for the imperial
army. Isauria and other mountainous districts, where it was
difficult to collect any revenue by a land-tax, also supplied a
fixed military contingent ^.
Whatever modifications Leo made in the military system,
and however great were the reforms he effected in the
organization of the army and the discipline of the troops,
the mass of the population continued in the Byzantine empire
to be excluded from the use of arms, as they had been in the
Roman times ; and this circumstance was the cause of that
unwarlike disposition, which is made a standing reproach from
the days of the Goths to those of the Crusaders. The state
of society engendered by this policy opened the Western
Empire to the northern nations, and the empire of Charle-
magne to the Normans. Leo's great merit was, that without
any violent political change he infused new energy into the
Byzantine military establishment, and organized a force that
for five centuries defended the empire without acquiring the
power of domineering in the state. As the army was destitute
of patriotic feeling, it was necessary to lessen the influence of
its commanders. This was done by dividing the provinces
into themes, appointing a general for each theme, and group-
ing tc^ether in different stations the various corps of conscripts,
subject nations, and hired mercenaries ^. The adoption like-
wise of different arms, armour, and manoeuvres in the various
corps, and their seclusion from close intercommunication with
the native legions, guarded against the danger of those
rebellious movements which in reality destroyed the Western
* An anecdote of the time of Theodosius II., a.d. 448, gives a correct idea of
the condition of the Greek population of the Eiastem Empire, at least mitil the
time of the anarchy under Phocas. Priscus, the envoy of Theodosius II. to Attila,
mentions that, in the Scythian territory, he was addressed in Greek by a man in
the dress of the country — a circumstance which surprised him, as Latin was the
costomary language of communication with foreigners, and few strangers, except
the slaves brought from Thrace and the coast of Illyria, ever spoke Greek. The
man proved to be a Greek who was living among the Huns. He contrasted his
past condition, as a citizen under the Roman emperors, with his present position
as a freeman under Attila. The Roman citizen, he said, was compelled to trust
for defence to the arms of others, because the Roman despotism prohibited the
use of arms to the citizen. In the time of war, consequently, he was a prey either
to the enemy or to the mercenary troops of the emperor, while in the time of
peace his life was rendered intolerable by fiscal oppression and official injustice.
Exe, e Pritei Hisioria, 59, edit. Paris ; 190, edit. Bonn.
• Leo is said to have had a body of Frank mercenaries in his service during the
liege of Constantinople. The authority is too modern to be implicitly relied on.
Abnlpharagius, Ch. Arab. 130.
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Empire. As much caution was displayed in the Byzantine
empire to prevent the army from endangering the government
by its seditions, as to render it formidable to the enemy by its
strength ^.
The finances are soon felt to be the basis of government in
all civilized states. Augustus experienced the truth of this as
much as Louis XIV. The progress of society and the
accumulation of wealth have a tendency to sink governments
into the position of brokers of human intelligence, wealth, and
labour ; and the finances form the symbol indicating the
quantity of these which the central authority can command.
The reforms, therefore, which it was in the power of Leo III.
to effect in the financial administration, must have proceeded
from the force of circumstances rather than from the mind of
the emperor. To this cause we must attribute the durability
of the fabric he constructed. He confined himself to arranging
prudently the materials accumulated to his hand. But no
sovereign, and indeed no central executive authority, can form
a correct estimate of the taxable capacity of the people.
Want of knowledge increases the insatiable covetousness
suggested by their position ; and the wisest statesman is
almost as likely to impose ruinous burdens on the people,
if vested with despotic power, as the most rapacious tyrant.
The people alone can find ways of levying on themselves
an amount of taxation exceeding any burdens that the
boldest despot could hope to impose ; for the people alone
can perceive what taxes will have the least effect in arresting
the increase of the national Wealth.
Leo, who felt the importance of the financial administration
as deeply as Augustus, reserved to himself the immediate
superintendence of the treasury; and this special control over
the finances was retained by his successors, so that, during
the whole duration of the Byzantine empire, the emperors
may be regarded as their own ministers of finance. The
grand Logothetes, who was the official minister, was in
reality nothing more than the emperor's private secretary
for the department. While Leo improved the central ad-
* There are several works on military affairs by B3rzantine emperors: — Tiu
Strategikon of the Emperor Maurice ; The Tactics of Leo the Wise ; The Tactics
and Strategikon of Constantine Porphyrogenitus ; and to these may be added
The service of light troops, by Nicephorus II. (Phokas).
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FINANCIAL REFORMS. 31
ministration, the invasions of the Saracens and Bulgarians
made him extremely cautious in imposing heavy fiscal
burdens on the distant cities and provinces of his dominions.
But his reforms were certainly intended to circumscribe the
authority of municipal and provincial institutions. The free
cities and municipalities which had once been intrusted with
the duty of apportioning their quota of the land-tax, and
collecting the public burdens of their district, were now
deprived of this authority. All fiscal business was transferred
to the imperial officers. Each province had its own collectors
of the revenue, its own officials charged to complete the
rasters of the public burdens, and to verify all statistical
details. The traditions of imperial Rome still required that
this mass of information should be regularly transmitted to
the cabinet of the Byzantine emperors, as at the birth of our
Saviour ^
The financial acts of Leo's reign, though they show that he
increased the direct amount of taxation levied from his sub-
jects, prove nevertheless, by the general improvement which
took place in the condition of the people, that his reformed
system of financial administration really lightened the weight
of the public burdens. Still, there can be no doubt that the
stringency of the measures adopted in Greece and Italy, for
rendering the census more productive, was one of the causes
of the rebellions in those countries, for which his Iconoclastic
decrees served as a more honourable war-cry. In Calabria
and Sicily he added one-third to the capitation ; he con-
fiscated to the profit of the treasury a tribute of three talents
and a half of gold which had been remitted annually to Rome,
and at the same time he ordered a correct register to be kept
of all the males bom in his dominions. This last regulation
excites a burst of indignation from the orthodox historian and
confessor Theophanes, who allows neither his reason nor his
memory to restrain his bigotry when recording the acts of the
first Iconoclast emperor. He likens Leo's edict to Pharaoh's
conduct to the children of Israel, and adds that the Saracens,
» Luke ii. i. The Book of Accounts or tax tariff of Alexius I., published in
the AnaUcta Graeca of the Benedictines, Pouget, Loppin, and Montfaucon, Paris,
1688, entitled Antiquum Raiionarium Augusti Caesaris, proves by its title the
uninterrupted transmission of Roman administrative traditions. Novel of John
Comnenus in Leunclavius, Jus Graeco-Romanum^ i. 147 ; Novel of Manuel, i. 15^ »
Mortreuil, HUtoire du DroU Byzantine iii. 107.
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Leo's teachers in wickedness, had never exercised the like
oppression — forgetting, in his zeal against taxation, that the
Caliph Abdelmelik had established the haratch or capitation
of Christians as early as the commencement of the reign of
Justinian II., A.D. 692 ^
An earthquake that ruined the walls of Constantinople, and
many cities in Thrace and Bithynia, induced Leo to adopt
measures for supplying the treasury with a special fund for
restoring them, and keeping their fortifications constantly in
a state to resist the Bulgarians and Saracens. The municipal
revenues which had once served for this purpose had been
encroached upon by Justinian L, and the policy of Leo led
him to diminish in every way the sphere of action of all local
authorities.
The care of the fortifications was undoubtedly a duty to
which the central government required to give its direct
attention ; and to meet the extraordinary expenditure caused
by the calamitous earthquake of 740, an addition of one-
twelfth was made to the census. This tax was called the
dikeratofty because the payment appears to have been generally
made in the silver coins called keratia, two of which were equal
to a miliaresion, the coin which represented one-twelfth of the
nomisma, or gold byzant ^. Thus a calamity which diminished
the public resources increased the public burdens. In such
a contingency it seems that a paternal government and a wise
despot ought to have felt the necessity of diminishing the
pomp of the court, of curtailing the expenses of ecclesiastical
pageants, and of reforming the extravagance of the popular
amusements of the hippodrome, before imposing new burdens
on the suffering population of the empire. Courtiers, saints,
and charioteers ought to have been shorn of their splendour,
before the groans of the provinces were increased. Yet Leo
was neither a luxurious nor an avaricious prince ; but, as has
been said already, no despotic monarch can wisely measure
the burden of taxation.
The influence of the provincial spirit on the legislation
of the empire is strongly marked in the history of juris-
* Theoj^ 343.
' Theoph. 345 ; Constan. Manasses, 93 ; Glycas, 286 ; and the words ip&Ka and
Ktp&riov in Ducange's Glossarium Med, et Infimae Graecitatis ; see voL i. Greece
under the Romans, Appendix ; On Roman and Byzantine Money,
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prudence during Leo's reign. The anarchy which had long
interrupted the official communications between the provinces
and the capital lent an increased authority to local usages,
and threw obstacles in the way of the regular administration
of justice, according to the strict letter of the voluminous laws
of Justinian. The consequence was, that various local abridg-
ments of the law were used as manuals, both by lawyers and
judges, in the provincial tribunals, where the great expense of
procuring a copy of the Justinianean collection prevented its
use. Leo published a Greek manual of law, which by its
official sanction became the primary authority in all the courts
of the empire. This imperial abridgment is called the Ecloga:
it affords some evidence concerning the state of society and
the classes of the people for which it was prepared. Little
notice is taken of the rights of the agriculturists ; the various
modes of acquiring property and constituting servitudes are
omitted. The Ecloga has been censured for its imperfections
by Basil L, the founder of a legislative dynasty, who speaks
of it as an insult to the earlier legislators ; yet the orthodox
la\<^Ver, while he pretended to reject every act of the heretical
Isaurian, servilely imitated all his political plans. The brevity
and precision of Leo's Ecloga were highly appreciated both
by the courts of law and the people, in spite of the heterodox
opinions of its promulgator. It so judiciously supplied a want
long felt by a laige portion of society, that neither the attempt
of Basil I. to supplant it by a new official manual, nor the
publication of the great code of the Basilika in Greek, de-
prived it of value among the jurisconsults of the Byzantine
empire ^.
The legislative labours of Leo were not circumscribed to
the publication of the Ecloga. He seems to have sanctioned
various minor codes, by which the regulations in use relating
to military, agricultural, and maritime law were reduced into
systematic order. The collections which are attached to the
Ecloga, under the heads of military, agricultural, and Rhodian
laws, cannot, however, be considered as official acts of his
reign ; still, they are supposed to afford us a correct idea of
' See the works of Zachariae, whose enlightened criticism has shed light on
this obscure period of history. Historic Juris Graeco-Romani Delintatio^ pp. i4-4'.»
•O wp6x*ip<» y6fto9, Heidelb., 1837, p. xviii. &c ; Ecloga LtonU et Coju/on/tiu,
Leipzig, 185 a.
VOL.11. D
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the originals he published. Some abstract of the provisions
contained in the Roman legislation on military affairs was
rendered necessary by the practice of maintaining corps of
foreign mercenaries in the capital. A military code was like-
wise rendered necessary, in consequence of the changes that
took place in the old system, as the Asiatic provinces were
gradually cleared of the invading bands of Saracens ^. The
agricultural laws appear to be a tolerably exact copy of the
enactments of Leo. The work bears the impress of the con-
dition of society in his time, and it is not surprising that the
title which perpetuated the merits and the memory of the
heterodox Leo was suppressed by orthodox bigotry. The
maritime laws are extremely interesting, from affording a
picture of the state of commercial legislation in the eighth
century, at the time when commerce and law saved the
Roman empire. The exact date of the collection we possess
is not ascertained. That Leo protected commerce, we may
infer from its reviving under his government; whether he
promulgated a code to sanction or enforce his reforms, or
whether the task was completed by one of his successors, is
doubtful.
The whole policy of Leo^s reign has been estimated by his
ecclesiastical reforms. These have been severely judged by
all historians, and they appear to have encountered a violent
opposition from a large portion of his subjects. The general
dissatisfaction has preserved sufficient authentic information
to allow of a candid examination of the merits and errors of
his policy. Theophanes considers the aversion of Leo to the
adoration of images as originating in an impious attachment
to the unitarianism of the Arabs. His own pages, however,
refute some of his calumnies, for he records that Leo per-
secuted the unitarianism of the Jews, and the tendency to it
in the Montanists •. Indeed, all those who differed from the
* Mortreuil, Histoire du Droit Byzantin, i. 393,
* Theoph. 336, 343. Mortrenil, in his Histoire du Droit Byzantin (i. 348), cites
the law against the Tews and Montanists from Bonefidius {Juris Orientalis lAhri
Tres), and refers to Cedrenus. But most of the laws cited by Bonefidius fix)m
Cedrenus will be found in Theophanes and the older Byzantine writers, not
published when Bonefidius made his compilation; and reference ought to be
made to these authorities. In this case, what is called a law seems to have been
a series of edicts. Theophanes says that the Jews submitted to baptism and
mocked the sacraments; the more conscientious Montanists burned themselves
in their places of worship.
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most orthodox acknowledgment of the Trinity received very
Kttle Christian charity at the hands of the Isaurian, who
placed the cross on the reverse of many of his gold, silver,
and copper coins, and over the gates of his palace, as a symbol
for universal adoration. In his Iconoclast opinions, Leo is
merely a type of the more enlightened laymen of his age.
A strong reaction against the superstitions introduced into
the Christian religion by the increasing ignorance of the
people pervaded the educated classes, who were anxious to
put a stop to what might be considered a revival of the ideas
and feelings of paganism. The Asiatic Christians, who were
brought into frequent collision with the followers of Mahomet,
2^roaster, and Moses, were compelled to observe that the
worship of the common people among themselves was sensual,
when compared with the devotion of the infidels. The wor-
ship of God was neglected, and his service transferred to some
human symbol. The favourite saint was usually one whose
faults were found to bear some analogy to the vices of his
worshipper, and thus pardon was supposed to be obtained for
sin on easier terms than accords with Divine justice, and vice
was consequently rendered more prevalent. The clergy had
yielded to the popular ignorance ; the walls of churches were
covered with pictures which were reported to have wrought
miraculous cures; their shrines were enriched by paintings
not made with hands ^ ; the superstitions of the people were
increased, and the doctrines of Christianity were neglected.
Pope Gregory II., in a letter to Leo, mentions the fact, that
men expended their estates to have the sacred histories
represented in paintings ^
In a time of general reform, and in a government where
ecclesiastics acted as administrative officials of the central
authority, it was impossible for Leo to permit the church to
remain quite independent in ecclesiastical affairs, unless he
was prepared for the clergy assuming a gradual supremacy in
the state. The clergy, being the only class in the adminis-
tration of public affairs connected with the people by interest
' 'Axcipovolipa. Nothing can better prove the extent to which superstition
had contanainated religion than the assertion of the Patriarch Germanos, that
miracles were daily wrought by the images of Christ and the saints, and that
balsam distilled from the painted hand of an image of the Virgin Mary. Neander,
Bistory oftht Ckrisiian Religion and Church (Torrey's translation), iii. 206.
' Nenoder, iii. aia.
D 2
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and feelings, was always sure of a powerful popular support.
It appeared, therefore, necessary to the emperor to secure
them as sincere instruments in carrying out all his reforms,
otherwise there was some reason to fear that they might
constitute themselves the leaders of the people in Greece and
Asia, as they had already done at Rome, and control the
imperial administration throughout the whole Eastern Empire,
as completely as they did in the Byzantine possessions in
central Italy.
Leo commenced his ecclesiastical reforms in the year 726,
by an edict ordering all pictures in churches to be placed so
high as to prevent the people from kissing them, and prohibit-
ing prostration before these symbols, or any act of public wor-
ship being addressed to them. Against this moderate edict of
the emperor, the Patriarch Germanos and the Pope Gregory II.
made strong representations. The opposition of interest which
reigned between the church and the state impelled the two
bodies to a contest for supremacy which it required centuries
to decide, and both Germanos and Gregory were sincere
supporters of image-worship. To the ablest writer of the
time, — the celebrated John Damascenus, who dwelt under the
protection of the caliph at Damascus, among Mohammedans
and Jews, — this edict seemed to mark a relapse to Judaism,
or a tendency to Islamism. He felt himself called upon to
combat such feelings with all the eloquence and power of
argument he possessed. The empire was thrown into a
ferment ; the lower clergy and the whole Greek nation de-
clared in favour of image-worship. The professors of the
university of Constantinople, an institution of a Greek cha-
racter, likewise declared their opposition to the edict. Liberty
of conscience was the watchword against the imperial autho-
rity. The Pope and the Patriarch denied the right of the
civil power to interfere with the doctrines of the church ; the
monks everywhere echoed the words of John Damascenus, ' It
is not the business of the emperor to make laws for the
church. Apostles preached the gospel ; the welfare of the
state is the monarch's care ; pastors and teachers attend to
that of the church ^' The despotic principles of Leo's admi-
nistration, and the severe measures of centralization which
^ Johnr Damascenus, Orat, ii. 13, quoted in Neander's History, iii. 309.
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he enforced as the means of reorganizing the public service,
created many additional enemies to his government.
The rebellion of the inhabitants of Greece, which occurred
in the year 727, seems to have originated in a dissatisfaction
with the fiscal and administrative reforms of Leo, to which
local circumstances, unnoticed by historians, gave peculiar
violence, and which the edict against image-worship fanned
into a flame. The unanimity of all classes, and the violence
of the popular zeal in favour of their local privileges and
superstitions, suggested the hope of dethroning Leo, and
placing a Greek on the throne of Constantinople. A naval
expedition, composed of the imperial fleet in the Cyclades,
and attended by an army from the continent, was fitted out to
attack the capital. Agallianos, who commanded the imperial
forces stationed to watch the Sclavonians settled in Greece,
was placed at the head of the army destined to assail the
conqueror of the Saracens. A new emperor was proclaimed,
whose name was Kosmas. In the month of April the Greek
fleet appeared before Constantinople, but events soon proved
that the Greeks,^ confiding in the goodness of their cause, had
greatly overrated their own valour and strength, or strangely
overlooked the resources of the Iconoclasts. Leo met the
fleet as it approached his capital, and completely defeated
it. Agallianos, with the spirit of a hero, when he saw the
utter ruin of the enterprise, plunged fully armed into the sea
rather than surrender. Kosmas was taken prisoner, with
another leader, and immediately beheaded. Leo, however,
treated the mass of the prisoners with mildness \
Even if we admit that the Greeks displayed considerable
presumption in attacking the Isaurian emperor, still we must
accept the fact as a proof of the populous condition of the
cities and islands of Greece, and of the flourishing condition of
their trade, at a period generally represented as one of
wretchedness and poverty. Though the Peloponnesus was
filled with Sclavonian emigrants, and the Greek peasantry
were in many districts excluded from the cultivation of the
land in the seats of their ancestors, nevertheless their cities then
* Tbeophanes (330) calls the insurgents Helladikoi, and Cedrenus (i. 454) copies
the scornful expression. Had the insurrection been believed to have originated
in religious feeling, surely the orthodox confessor Theophanes would have regarded
the sufi^ers as martyrs.
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contained the mercantile wealth and influence, which passed
some centuries later into the possession of Venice, Amalfi,
Genoa, and Pisa.
The opposition Leo encountered only confirmed him in his
persuasion that it was indispensably necessary to increase the
power of the central government in the provinces. As he was
sincerely attached to the opinions of tiie Iconoclasts, he was
led to connect his ecclesiastical reforms with his political mea-
sures, and to pursue both with additional zeal. In order to
secure the active support of all the officers of the administra-
tion, and exclude all image- worshippers from power, he con-
voked an assembly, called a silention, consisting of the senators
and the highest functionaries in the church and state. In this
solemn manner it was decreed that images were to be removed
from all the churches throughout the empire. In the capital
the change met with no serious opposition. The population
of Constantinople, at every period of its history, has consisted
of a mixed multitude of different nations \ nor has the majority
ever been purely Greek for any great length of time. Nicetas,
speaking of a time when the Byzantine empire was at the
height of its power, and when the capital was more a Greek
city than at any preceding or subsequent period, declares that
its population was composed of various races ^ The cause of
image-worship was, however, generally the popular cause, and
the Patriarch Germanos steadily resisted every change in the
actual practice of the church until that change should be
sanctioned by a general council *.
The turn now given to the dispute put an end to the power
of the Eastern emperors in central Italy. The Latin provinces
of the Roman empire, even before their conquest by the
barbarians, had sunk into deeper ignorance than the Eastern.
Civilization had penetrated farther into society among the
Greeks, Armenians, and Syrians than among the Italians,
Gauls, and Spaniards. Italy was already dissatisfied with
the Constantinopolitan domination, when Leo's fiscal and
religious reforms roused local interests and national prejudices
to unite in opposing his government. The Pope of Rome had
long been regarded by orthodox Christians as the head of the
Nicetas, Altxius, 15a.
Niceph. Pat. 38 : ^cv oltcoviuym^i ffw6tw HYfpa^ iriorty oitc iitrlBtfuu,
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church; even the Greeks admitted his right of inspection
over the whole body of the clergy, in virtue of the superior
dignity of the Roman see^. From being the heads of the
church, the popes became the defenders of the liberties of the
people. In this character^ as leaders of a lawful opposition
to the tyranny of the imperial administration, they grew up to
the possession of immense influence in the state. This power,
having its basis in democratic feelings and eneigies, alarmed
the emperors, and many attempts were made to circumscribe
the papal authority. But the popes themselves did more to
diminish their own influence than their enemies, for instead of
remaining the protectors of the people, they aimed at making
themselves their masters. Gregory II., who occupied the
papal chair at the commencement of the contest with Leo,
was a man of sound judgment, as well as an able and zealous
priest He availed himself of all the advantages of his posi-
tion, as political chief of the Latin race, with prudence and
moderation ; nor did he neglect the power he derived from
the circumstance that Rome was the fountain of religious
instruction for all western Europe. Both his political and
ecclesiastical position entitled him to make a direct opposition
to any oppressive measure of the emperor of Constantinople,
when the edicts of Leo III. concerning image-worship
prompted him to commence the contest, which soon ended
in separating central Italy from the Byzantine empire.
The possessions of the Eastern emperors in Italy were still
considerable. Venice, Rome, Ravenna, Naples, Bari, and
Tarentum were all capitals of well-peopled and wealthy
districts. The province embracing Venice and Rome was
governed by an imperial viceroy or exarch who resided at
Ravenna, and hence the Byzantine possessions in central
Italy were called the Exarchate of Ravenna. Under the
orders of the exarch, three governors or dukes commanded
the troops in Ravenna, Rome, and Venice. As the native
militia enrolled to defend the province from the Lombards
formed a considerable portion of the military force, the
popular feelings of the Italians exercised "some influence over
the soldiery. The Constantinopolitan governor was generally
disliked, on account of the fiscal rapacity of which he was the
*■ Sozomen, Hist, EecU$, iii. c 8.
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agent ; and nothing but the dread of greater oppression on the
part of the Lombards, whom the ItaHans had not the courage
to encounter without the assistance of the Byzantine troops,
preserved the people of central Italy in their allegiance.
They hated the Greeks, but they feared the Lombards.
Gregory IL sent Leo strong representations against his first
edicts on the subject of image-worship, and after the silention
he repeated these representations, and entered on a more
decided course of opposition to the emperor's ecclesiastical
reforms, being then convinced that there was no hope of Leo
abandoning his heretical opinions. It seems that Italy, like
the rest of the empire, had escaped in some degree from the
oppressive burden of imperial taxation during the anarchy
that preceded Leo*s election. But the defeat of the Saracens
before Constantinople had been followed by the re-establish-
ment of the fiscal system. To overcome the opposition now
made to the financial and ecclesiastical reforms, the exarch
Paul was ordered to march to Rome and support Marinus,
the duke, who found himself unable to contend against the
papal influence \ The whole of central Italy burst into rebel-
lion at this demonstration against its civil and religious
interests. The exarch was compelled to shut himself up in
Ravenna ; for the cities of Italy, instead of obeying the impe-
rial officers, elected magistrates of their own, on whom they
conferred, in some cases, the title of duke ^. Assemblies were
held, and the project of electing an emperor of the West was
adopted ; but the unfortunate result of the rebellion of Greece
damped the courage of the Italians ; and though a rebel,
named Tiberius Petasius, really assumed the purple in Tus-
cany, he was easily defeated and slain by Eutychius, who
succeeded Paul as exarch of Ravenna. Luitprand, king
of the Lombards, taking advantage of these dissensions,
invaded the imperial territory, and gained possession of
Ravenna; but Gregory, who saw the necessity of saving
the country from the Lombards and from anarchy, wrote to
Ursus the duke of Venice, one of his warm partisans, and
persuaded him to join Eutychius. The Lombards were
defeated by the Byzantine troops, Ravenna was recovered,
* The Latins accused Leo of ordering Mannus to assassinate the pope.
' Anastas. i)« VU, Poni, Rom. 69.
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and Eutychius entered Rome with a victorious army \ Gre-
gory died in 731. Though he excited the Italian cities to
resist the imperial power, and approved of the measures
they adopted for stopping the remittance of their taxes to
Constantinople*, he does not appear to have adopted any
measures for declaring Rome independent. That he con-
templated the possibility of events taking a turn that might
ultimately lead him to throw off his allegiance to the Emperor
Leo, is nevertheless evident, from one of his letters to that
emi>eror, in which he boasts very significantly that the eyes
of the West were fixed on his humility, and that if Leo
attempted to injure the Pope, he would find the West ready
to defend him, and even to attack Constantinople. The
allusion to the protection of the king of the Lombards and
Charles Martel was certainly, in this case, a treasonable threat
on the part of the Bishop of Rome to his sovereign ^. Besides
this, Gregory IL excommunicated the exarch Paul, and all
the enemies of image-worship who were acting under the
orders of the emperor, pretending to avoid the guilt of treason
by not expressly naming the Emperor Leo in his anathema *.
On the other hand, when we consider that Leo was striving to
extend the bounds of the imperial authority in an arbitrary
manner, and that his object was to sweep away every barrier
against the exercise of despotism in the church and the state, we
must acknowledge that the opposition of Gregory was founded
in justice, and that he was entitled to defend the municipal
institutions and local usages of Italy, and the constitution of
the Romish church, even at the price of declaring himself a
rebel.
The election of Gregory III. to the papal chair was con-
firmed by the Emperor Leo in the usual form ; nor was that
pope consecrated until the mandate from Constantinople
reached Rome. This was the last time the emperors of the
East were solicited to confirm the election of a pope. Mean-
while Leo steadily pursued his schemes of ecclesiastical
' Baronii Ann, EceUs, ix. p. 137, a.d. 729.
" Theoph. 338.
■ Histoire des Souverains Pontifes Romains, par le Chev. Artaud de Montor,
i. 438. This work is more remarkable for popish bigotry than for historical
accuracy. Two episUes of Grqgory II. are preserved among the acts of the
second councU of Kicaea. Coleti, Acta S, Coneil, viii. 651, 674.
* Theoph. 34 a ; Anastas. Di Vit. Poni, Rom, 69.
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reform, and the opposition to his measures gathered strength.
Gregory III. assembled a council in Rome, at which the
municipal authorities, whose power Leo was endeavouring
to circumscribe, were present along with the nobles ; and
in this council the whole body of the Iconoclasts was excom-
municated. Leo now felt that force alone could maintain
Rome and its bishops in their allegiance. With his usual
energy, he despatched an expedition under the command
of Manes, the general of the Kibyrraiot theme, with orders
to send the pope a prisoner to Constantinople, to be tried
for his treasonable conduct. A storm in the Adriatic, the
lukewarm conduct of the Greeks in the imperial service, and
the courage of the people of Ravenna, whose municipal
institutions still enabled them to act in an organized manner,
caused the complete overthrow of Manes. Leo revenged
himself for this loss by confiscating all the estates of the
papal see in the eastern provinces of his empire, and by
separating the ecclesiastical government of southern Italy,
Sicily, Greece, lUyria, and Macedonia, from the papal juris-
diction, and placing these countries under the immediate
authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
From this time, a.d. 733, the city of Rome enjoyed
political independence under the guidance and protection of
the popes ^ ; but the officers of the Byzantine emperors were
allowed to reside in the city, justice was publicly administered
by Byzantine judges, and the supremacy of the Eastern
Empire was still recognised. So completely, however, had
Gregory III. thrown off his allegiance, that he entered into
negotiations with Charles Martel, in order to induce that
powerful prince to take an active part in the affairs of Italy*.
The pope was now a much more powerful personage than the
Exarch of Ravenna, for the cities of central Italy, which had
assumed the control of their local government, intrusted the
conduct of their external political relations to the care of
Gregory, who thus held the balance of power between the
Eastern emperor and the Lombard king *. In the year 742,
while Constantine V., the son of Leo, was engaged with a
civil war, the Lombards were on the eve of conquering
» Anastas. D« ViL Pont. Rom. 74.
' Bossuet, Defens, Cler. Gallic, ii. c. xvili.
■ Paulus Diaconus, vi. c. 54.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
PHYSICAL PHENOMENA. 43
Aj>. 716-741,]
Ravenna, but Pope Zacharias threw the whole of the Latin
influence into the Byzantine scale, and enabled the exarch to
maintain his position until the year 751, when Astolph, king
of the Lombards, captured Ravenna ^. The exarch retired to
Naples, and the authority of the Byzantine emperors in
central Italy ended.
The physical history of our globe is so intimately connected
with the condition of its inhabitants, that it is well to record
those remarkable variations from the ordinary course of nature
which strongly affected the minds of contemporaries. The
influence of famine and pestilence, during the tenth and
eleventh centuries, in accelerating the extinction of slavery,
has been pointed out by several recent writers on the subject,
though that effect was not observed by the people who lived
at the time. The importance of the late famine in Ireland,
as a political cause, must be felt by any one who attempts to
trace the origin of that course of social improvement on which
the Irish seem about to enter. The severity of the winter of
717 aided Leo in defeating the Saracens at Constantinople.
In the year 726, a terrific eruption of the dormant submarine
volcano at the island of Thera (Santorin), in the Archipelago,
was r^arded by the bigoted image-worshippers as a mani-
festation of divine wrath against Leo's reforms. For several
days the sea between Thera and Therasia boiled up with
great violence, vomiting forth flames^ and enveloping the
neighbouring islands in clouds of vapour and smoke. The
flames were followed by showers of dust and pumice-stone,
which covered the surface of the sea, and were carried by
the waves to the shores of Asia Minor and Macedonia *. At
last a new island rose out of the sea, and gradually ex-
tended itself until it joined the older rocky islet called
Hiera ^
' The exarchate is usually said to have terminated in 753, after existing 184
years; but there is an act of Astolph, dated at Ravenna, 4th July, 751. Fan-
tncci, Mwiumend Ravennati, torn. v. pp. 13, 203 ; Muratori, Ant. Ilal. v. 689.
• Pumice-stone is sometimes found floating in the Archipelago at the present
day, and there is generally a good deal on the shore of Attica, near Cape Zoster,
washed thither from Santorin.
* Theoph. 339; Niceph. Pat. 37. This addition to Hiera (Palaia Kaumene)
may still be traced. Uistoire et Phinomenes du Volcan de Santorin^ par TAbb^
P^es, 136; Ross, Reisen auf den Grieehischen Insdn, i. 8p. The author is re-
minded by this note of the pleasure he derived from a visit to Santorin in 1837,
with Protessor Ross of Halle, a most accomplished and profound scholar, and
Professor C. Ritter, the great geographer of Berlin. [Hiera was thrown up in
Digitized by VjUO^ It^
44 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.§a.
In the year 740, a terrible earthquake destroyed great part
of the walls of Constantinople. The statue of Arcadius, on
the Theodosian column in Xerolophon, and the statue of
Theodosius over the golden gate, were both thrown down '.
Churches, monasteries, and private buildings were ruined :
the walls of many cities in Thrace and Bithynia, particularly
Nicomedia, Praenetus, and Nicaea, were so injured as to
require immediate restoration. This great earthquake caused
the imposition of the tax already alluded to, termed the
dikeration.
Leo has been accused as a persecutor of learning. It is by
no means impossible that his Asiatic education and puritanical
opinions rendered him hostile to the legendary literature and
ecclesiastical art then cultivated by the Greeks ; but the
circumstance usually brought forward in support of his
barbarism is one of the calumnies invented by his enemies,
and re-echoed by orthodox bigotry. He is said to have
ordered a library consisting of 33,000 volumes, in the neigh-
bourhood of St. Sophia's, to be burned, and the professors of
the university to be thrown into the flames. A valuable
collection of books seems to have fallen accidentally a prey
to the flames during his reign, and neither his liberality nor
the public spirit of the Greeks induced them to display any
activity in replacing the loss ^.
Leo III. died in the year 741. He had crowned his son
Constantine emperor in the year 720, and married him
to Irene, the daughter of the Khan of the Khazars, in
733-
the year iq6 b.c. Of the two other islands, which with Hiera form the group
in the centre of the basin between Thera and Therasia, that called Mikra Kaamene
rose from the sea in a.d. 1573, while that which lies between them, and is by far
the largest of the three, Nea Kaumene, rose in 1707. This last was the scene
of the great eruption of 1866, which has occurred since the author wrote, and the
crater then formed still emits sulphurous steam. Ed.]
' Dncange, Consiantinopolis Christiana^ 78, 81. Scarlatos Byzantios, *H Kut^trnM-
TivovvoXii, 1. 289. The latter is a work of more pretension than value.
• Constant. Manasses, 87 ; Schlosser, Oeschichte der hildinturmenden Kaiser, 163 ;
Spanheim, Historia Imaginum Restituta, 115. Maimbourg {Histoire de VHirisU des
Iconoclastes, i. 58) believes and magnifies the accounts of the later Byzantine chro-
nicles, in spite of the silence of Leo's earlier enemies. According to Ephraemios
(v. 1007) a library of i ao.ooo volumes had been destroyed by fire in the reign of
Zeno, in which was the MS of the Iliad and Odyssey, written with letters of gold
on serpent's skin This MS. was 1 20 feet long.
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CONSTANTINE V, ac
.741-775.1 ^
Sect. III. — Canstantine V. (Copronymus\ a.d. 741-775.
Character of Constantine V.— Rebellion of Artavasdos.— Saracen war.— Bulgarian
war. — Internal condition of the empire. — Policy regarding image-worship.
Physical phenomena — Plague at Constantinople.
Constantine V., called Copronymus ^, ascended the throne
at the age of twenty-two, but he had already borne the title
of emperor as his father's colleague one and twenty years, for
the Byzantine empire preserved so strictly the elective type
of the Roman imperial dignity, that the only mode of securing
the hereditary transmission of the empire was for the reigning
emperor to obtain his son's election during his own lifetime.
Historians tell us that Constantine was a man possessing
every vice disgraceful to humanity, combined with habits and
tastes which must have rendered his company disgusting and
his person contemptible. Yet they record facts proving that
he possessed great talents, and that, even when his fortunes
appeared desperate, he found many devoted friends. The
obloquy heaped on his name must therefore be ascribed to
the blind passion inspired by religious bigotry. The age was
not one of forbearance and charity. The wisest generally
considered freedom of opinion a species of anarchy incom-
patible with orthodoxy, moral duty, and good government ;
consequently, both Iconoclasts and image-worshippers ap-
proved of persecution, and practised calumny in favour of
what each considered the good cause. Constantine tortured
the image-worshippers — they revenged themselves by de-
faming the emperor. But the persecutions which rendered
Constantine a monster in the eyes of the Greeks and Italians,
elevated him to the rank of a saint in the opinion of a large
body of the population of the empire, who regarded the
worship of pictures as a species of idolatry abhorrent to
Christianity. His religious zeal, political success, courage,
military talents, together with the prosperity that attended
his government, all conspired to make him the idol of
* Constantine received his name of Copronjrmus from having defiled the bap-
tismal font when the Patriarch plunged him into thr water according to the. usage
of the Greek Church ; if not in fact, at least metaphorically.
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46 ICONOCLAST PERIOD,
[Bk.I Ch.I.53.
the Iconoclasts, who regarded his tomb as a sacred shrine
until it was destroyed by Michael the orthodox drunkard ^.
Constantine was able, prudent, active, and brave; but he
was not more tender of human suffering than great monarchs
generally are. The Patriarch Nicephorus justly accuses him
of driving monks from their monasteries, and converting
sacred buildings into barracks. In modem times orthodox
papist sovereigns have frequently done the same thing,
without exciting much ecclesiastical indignation. But when
the Patriarch assures us that the emperor's mind was as
filthy as his name, we may be allowed to suspect that his
pen is guided by orthodoxy instead of truth ; and when we
find grave historians recording that he loved the odour of
horse-dung, and carried on amours with old maids, we are
reminded of the Byzantine love of calumny which could
delight in the anecdotes of Procopius, and believe that the
Emperor Justinian was a man of such diabolical principles,
that he was not ashamed to walk about his palace for many
hours of the night without his head ^ An account of the
reign of Constantine by an intelligent Iconoclast, even if he
represented the emperor as a saint, would be one of the most
valuable illustrations of the history of the eighth century
which time could have spared. He was accused of rejecting
the practice of invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary,
though it is admitted he called her the Mother of God. He
was also said to have denied the right of any man to be called
a saint ; and he had even the audacity to maintain, that
though the martyrs benefited themselves by their sufferings,
their merit, however great it might be, was not a quality that
could be transferred to others. His enemies r^farded these
opinions as damnable heresies ^ Few reputations, however,
have passed through such an ordeal of malice as that of
Constantine, and preserved so many undeniable virtues.
Shortly after his succession, Constantine lost possession of
Constantinople through the treachery of his brother-in-law
Artavasdos, who assumed the title of emperor, and kept pos-
session of the throne for two years. Artavasdos was an
* Scriptores post Theophanem; SymeoD Mag. 449; Georg. Mon. 541.
' Niceph. Pat. 88 ; Suidas, «. v. KaiyarayrcVot ; Procop. Historia Arcana, iii. 80,
edit. Bonn.
• Neander, History of the Christian Rdigion, iii. a 18.
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REBELLION OF ARTAVASDOS, 47
AJ>. 741-775.]
Armenian noble, who had commanded the troops of the
Armeniac theme in the reign of Theodosius III., and aided
Leo to mount the throne. He was rewarded with the hand of
Anna, the Isaurian's only daughter, and with the dignity of
curopalates, second only to that of Caesar, a rank then usually
reserved for the imperial blood. Artavasdos had increased
his influence by favouring the orthodox ; his long services in
the highest administrative offices had enabled him to attach
many partisans to his personal cause in every branch of the
public service. The manner in which Constantine was
engaged in a civil war with his brother-in-law reflected no
dishonour on the character of the young emperor.
The Saracens had pushed their incursions into the Opsikian
theme, where the imperial guards, under the command of
Artavasdos, were stationed. Constantine took the field in
person to oppose the enemy, and advanced to the plains of
Krasos. Here he ordered Artavasdos, who was at Dorylaeum,
to join him with the troops of the Opsikian theme. The order
alarmed Artavasdos, who seems to have been already engaged
in treasonable intrigues. Instead of obeying, he assumed the
title of emperor, and attacked Constantine so unexpectedly
that the imperial army was easily dispersed, and the young
emperor could only avoid being taken prisoner by galloping
off alone. When his own horse sank from fatigue, Constan-
tine was fortunate enough to find another waiting ready
saddled at the door of a post-house, which he mounted and
continued his flight. He succeeded in reaching Amorium
in safety^
Artavasdos marched to Constantinople, where, it appears
from coins, he afi*ected for some time to act as the colleague
of Constantine ; and it is possible that some treaty may have
been concluded between the brothers-in-law^. The usurper,
however, soon considered himself strong enough, with the
support of the orthodox, to set Constantine aside. The pope
acknowledged him as emperor, pictures were replaced in the
churches, a strong body of Armenian troops was collected,
and Nicephorus, the eldest son of Artavasdos, was crowned as
his father's colleague; while Niketas, the second, took the
* Theoph. 347; Niceph. Pat. 38; Le Beau Histnire du Bas-Empin, xii..i9o;
Saint-Martin's notes. Krasos was a town of Phrygia Pacatiana.
' De Saulcy, Eisai de Gassification des Suitts MotUtaires Byzantines, 156.
Digitized by V^jOOQlC
48 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.ClLl.S3.
command of the Armeniac theme, where the family possessed
great influence. All persons suspected of favouring Constan-
tine were persecuted as heretics hostile to picture-worship.
In the following year (742) Constantine assembled an army
composed chiefly of the troops of the Thrakesian and Anatolic
themes. With this force he marched to Chrysopolis (Scutari),
hoping that a party in Constantinople would declare in his
favour; but, being disappointed, he was compelled to with-
draw to Amorium, where he passed the winter. In spring,
Artavasdos marched to dislodge him, ordering his son Niketas
to bring up the Armenian troops to operate on the right flank
of the young emperor. The usurper laid waste all the country
on his line of march, as if it was a territory he never hoped to
govern. Constantine, whose military genius had been cul-
tivated by his father, formed a daring plan of campaign, and
executed it in the most brilliant manner. While his enemies
believed that they were advancing to attack him with superior
forces, he moved forward with such celerity as to become the
attacking party, before they could approach near enough to
combine any simultaneous movements. His first attack was
directed against Artavasdos, whose numerous army was infe-
rior in discipline to that of Niketas, and over which he
expected an easier victory. A general engagement took place
near Sardis, on quitting the Kelvian plain, watered by the
Kayster. The victory was complete. The usurper was
closely pursued to Cyzicus, from whence he escaped by sea
to Constantinople. Constantine then moved forward to meet
Niketas, who was defeated in a bloody battle fought at
Modrina, in the Boukellarian theme, to the east of the San-
garius. The Armenian auxiliaries and the troops of the
Armeniac theme sustained their high reputation, and long
disputed the victory.
The emperor then marched to invest Constantinople, cross-
ing the Bosphorus with one division of his army, and sending
another, under the command of Sisinnios, the general of the
Thrakesian theme, to cross the Hellespont at Abydos, and
reduce the cities on the shores of the Propontis. The fleet of
the Kibyrraiot theme blockaded the capital by sea. All
communications with Greece, one of the strongholds of the
image-worshippers, were thus cut off*. Constantine repulsed
every sally by land, and famine quickly made frightful ravages
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REBELLION OF ARTAVASDOS. 49
A.D. 741-775]
in the dense population of the capital, where no preparations
had been made for a si^e. Constantine acted on this occa-
sion in a very different manner from Artavasdos during the
campaign in Asia Minor. He felt that the people suddenly-
besieged were his own subjects ; and his enemies record that
he allowed all the starving population to seek refuge in his
camp^.
Niketas quickly reassembled the fugitives of his own and his
father's army, and made an attempt to cut off Constantine's
communications in Bithynia ; but the emperor left the camp
before Constantinople, and, putting himself at the head of
the troops in Asia, again defeated Niketas near Nicomedia.
Niketas and the orthodox archbishop of Gangra were both
taken prisoners. The belligerent prelate was immediately
beheaded as a traitor ; but Niketas was carried to Constanti-
nople, where he was exhibited before the walls laden with
fetters. Artavasdos still rejected all terms of capitulation,
and Constantine at last ordered a general assault, by which he
reconquered his capital on the 2d November 743. Artavasdos
escaped by sea to a fortress called Pyzanitis, in the Opsikian
theme, where he was soon after taken prisoner. His eyes,
and those of his sons, Nicephorus and Niketas, were put out ;
and in this condition they were exhibited as a triumphal
spectacle to the inhabitants of Constantinople, at the chariot
races given by the emperor to celebrate his re-establishment
on the throne. They were then immured in a monastery.
Some of their principal adherents were beheaded. The head
of Vaktageios, the principal minister of the usurper, was
exhibited for three days in the August eon — a custom per-
petuated by the Ottoman emperors in similar circumstances
until our own times, the heads of rebel viziers having adorned
the gate of the Serail during the reign of the late sultan^.
The Patriarch Anastasios was pardoned, and allowed to
remain in possession of his dignity^. Sisinnios, who had
* Niceph. Pat. 40; Theoph. 352.
' [i. e. Saltan Mahmud IL]
* Theophanes (353) says that the patriarch's eyes were put out and that he was
exposed to the insults of the mob in the circus, mounted on an ass, but the
Patriarch Nicephorus, who, in a fragment preserved by Photius {Biblioik§ca, p. 86),
has recapitulated all the misdeeds of Constantine with orthodox exaggeration,
makes no mention of this treatment of his predecessor. Anastasios continued to
occupy the patriarchal throne ten years after the taking of Constantinople, and
died A.D, 753. There appears to be some accidental mistake in what Theophanes
VOL. IL E
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50 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.§3.
commanded one division of the emperor's army, was soon
found to be engaged in treasonable intrigues, and lost his
eyes forty days after he entered the capital in triumph with
his sovereign.
Constantine no sooner found himself firmly established on
the throne than he devoted his attention to completing the
organization of the empire traced out by his father. The
constant attacks of the Saracens and Bulgarians called him
frequently to the head of his armies, for the state of society
rendered it dangerous to intrust large forces to the command
of a subject. In the Byzantine empire few individuals had
any scruple of violating the political constitution of their
country, if by so doing they could increase their own power.
The incursions of the Saracens first required to be repressed.
The empire of the caliphs was already distracted by the civil
wars which preceded the fall of the Ommiad dynasty. Con-
stantine took advantage of these troubles. He reconquered
Germanicia and Doliche, and occupied for a time a consider-
able part of Commagene ; but as he found it impossible to
retain possession of the country, he removed the Christian
population to Thrace, where he founded several flourishing
colonies, long distinguished by their religious opinions from the
surrounding population ; A.D. 746 ^ The Saracens attempted
to indemnify themselves for these losses by the conquest of
Cyprus. This island appears to have been reconquered by
Leo III., for it had been abandoned to the Mohammedans by
Justinian II. The fleet of the caliph sailed from Alexandria,
and landed an army at the port of Kerameia \ but the fleet of
the Kibyrraiot theme arrived in time to blockade the enemy's
ships, and of a thousand Mohammedan vessels three only
escaped ; A.D. 748. The war was continued. In 752 the
imperial armies took the cities of Melitene and Theodosio-
polis, but some years later the Caliph Al Mansour recovered
Melitene and Germanicia : he seems, however, to have con-
sidered the tenure of the last so insecure that he transported
sa3rs with regard to Anastasios, for both he and Nicephoms recoant similar cir-
cumstances as accompanjring the deposition and death of the successor of Anas-
tasios, Constantinos 11. Theoph. 373 ; Niceph. Pat. 48.
^ Theophanes (354) mentions that these colonists retained in his time the
heretical addition to the Trisagion of Peter the Fuller, • O holy God I O holy
Almighty I O holy Eternal, who was crucified for us!' Su Mosheim's EccUt,
Biti. 1. 483, edit. Soames.
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BULGARIAN WAR. 51
A.D. 741-775.]
the inhabitants into Palestine. The Saracens invaded the
empire almost every summer, but these incursions led to no
permanent conquests. The agricultural population along the
frontiers of the two empires must have been greatly dimi-
nished during these successive ravages; for farm-buildings
and fruit-trees were constantly destroyed, and slaves formed
the most valuable booty of the soldiers. The mildness and
tolerant government of the emperor of Romania (for that
name b^^n now to be applied to the part of Asia Minor
belonging to the Byzantine empire^) was so celebrated in
the East, in spite of his persecution of the image-worshippers
at Constantinople, that many Christians escaped by sea from
the dominions of the Caliph Al Mansour to settle in those of
Constantine*. In the year 769 an exchange of prisoners took
place, but without interrupting the course of hostilities, which
were continued almost incessantly on the frontiers of the two
empires ^
The vicinity of the Bulgarians to Constantinople rendered
them more dangerous enemies than the Saracens, though their
power was much inferior. The Bulgarians were a people who
looked on war as the most honourable means of acquiring
wealth, and they had long pursued it with profit : for as long
as the Byzantine frontiers were poputous, they obtained booty
and slaves by their incursions ; while, as soon as they became
depopulated by these ravages, the Bulgarians were enabled to
occupy the waste districts with their own pastoral hordes, and
thus increase their numbers and strength. To resist their
incursions, Constantine gradually repaired all the fortifications
of the towns on the northern frontier, and then commenced
fortifying the passes, until the Bulgarians found their pre-
datory incursions attended with loss instead of gain. Their
king was now compelled to make the cause of the predatory
bands a national question, and an embassy was sent to Con-
stantinople to demand payment of an annual tribute, under
the pretext that some of the fortifications erected to guard the
passes were situated in the Bulgarian territory, but, in reality,
to replace the loss of the plunder which had enabled many of
the warlike Bulgarians to live in idleness and luxury. The
* Theophanes uses Romania frequently in this sense.
• Theoi*. 576. • ^Wrf. 374.
E % - T
Digrtizecl by V^jOOQ IC
K2 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.1. §3.
demands of the king were rejected, and he immediately invaded
the empire with a powerful army. The Bulgarians carried
their ravages up to the long wall ; but though they derived
assistance from the numerous Sclavonian colonies settled in
Thrace, they were defeated, and driven back into their own
territory with great slaughter ; A.D. 757.
Constantine carried on a series of campaigns, systematically
planned, for the purpose of weakening the Bulgarian power.
Instead of allowing his enemy to make any incursions into
the empire, he was always ready to carry the war into their
territory. The difficulties of his enterprise were great, and he
suffered several defeats ; but his military talents and persever-
ing energy prevented the Bulgarians from profiting by any
partial success they obtained, and he soon regained the suj>e-
riority. In the campaigns of 760, 763, and 765, Constantine
marched far into Bulgaria, and carried off immense booty.
In the year 766 he intended to complete the conquest of the
country, by opening the campaign at the commencement of
spring. His fleet, which consisted of two thousand six hun-
dred vessels, in which he had embarked a considerable body
of infantry in order to enter the Danube, was assailed by one
of those furious storms that often sweep the Euxine. The
force which the emperor expected would soon render him
master of Bulgaria was suddenly ruined. The shores of the
Black Sea were covered with the wrecks of his ships and the
bodies of his soldiers. Constantine immediately abandoned
all thought of continuing the campaign, and employed his
whole army in alleviating the calamity to the survivors, and
in securing Christian burial and funeral honours to the dead.
A truce was concluded with the enemy, and the Roman
army beheld the emperor as eager to employ their services in
the cause of humanity and religion, as he had ever been to
lead them in fields of blood and conquest. His conduct on
this occasion gained him as much popularity with the people
of Constantinople as with the troops \
In the year 774 he again assembled an army of eighty
thousand men, accompanied by a fleet of two thousand trans-
* Niceph. Pat 47; Theoph. 368. The great services and victories of Con-
stantine in the Bulgarian war were acknowledged by posterity. L«o Diaconus,
104, edit. Bonn.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
ORGANIZED BRIGANDAGE. 53
^•741-775-]
ports, and invaded Bulgaria. The Bulgarian monarch con-
cluded a treaty of peace — which, however, was broken as soon
as Constantine returned to his capital. But the emperor was
not unprepared, and the moment he heard that the enemy
had laid siege to Verzetia, one of the fortresses he had con-
structed to defend the frontier, he quitted Constantinople in
the month of October, and, falling suddenly on the besiegers,
routed their army with great slaughter. The following year
his army was again ready to take the field ; but as Constan-
tine was on his way to join it he was attacked by a mortal
illness, which compelled him to retrace his steps. Having
embarked at Selymbria, in order to reach Constantinople
with as little fatigue as possible, he died on board the vessel
at the castle of Strongyle, just as he reached the walls of his
capital, on the 23rd September 775*.
The long war with the Bulgarians was carried on rather
with the object of securing tranquillity to the northern pro-
vinces of the empire, than from any desire of a barren conquest.
The necessity of reducing the Sclavonian colonies in Thrace
and Macedonia to complete obedience to the central adminis-
tration, and of secluding them from all political communica-
tion with one another, or with their countrymen in Bulgaria,
Servia, and Dalmatia, imposed on the emperor the necessity
of maintaining strong bodies of troops, and suggested the
policy of forming a line of Greek towns and Asiatic colonies
along the northern frontier of the empire. When this was
done, Constantine began to root out the brigandage, which
had greatly extended itself during the anarchy which preceded
his father's election, and which Leo had never been able to
exterminate. Numerous bands lived by plunder, in a state
of independence, within the bounds of the empire. They
were called Skamars, and, like the Bagauds of Gaul, formed
organized confederacies of outlaws, originally consisting of
men driven to despair by the intolerable burden of taxation
* Strongyle is the same with the Cyclobion or Seven Towers. Banduri, Imp,
Orient, ii. 530, edit. Ven. ; Ducange, Comt, Christ. 45, I03. Magnaura was the
western point of Constantinople (Zonaras, ii. 89) ; though the authority of Theo-
phanes (.294) would place it at the Hebdomon. Another passage, however,
corrects this (p. 331). and proves that both Magnaura and Cyclobion were without
the chain which closed the port at the points of the triangle towards the Pro-
pODtis. Ducange, Const, Christ. 127. Gyllius seems wrong; De Topog. Const,
lib. IT. c 4.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
54 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.1. §5.
and the severity of the fiscal legislation ^. When the incur-
sions of the Bulgarians had wasted the fields of the cultivator,
the government still called upon him to pay the full amount
of taxation imposed on his estate in prosperous times:
his produce, his cattle, his slaves, and his seed-corn were
carried away by the imperial officers. He could then only
live by plundering his feilow-subjects, who had hitherto
escaped the calamities by which he had been ruined; and
thus the oppression of the imperial government was avenged
on the society that submitted to it without striving to reform
its evils, Constantine rooted out these bands. A celebrated
chief of the Skamars was publicly executed at Constantinople
with the greatest barbarity, his living body being dissected by
surgeons after the amputation of his hands and feet. The
habitual barbarity of legal punishments in the Byzantine
empire can hardly relieve the memory of Constantine from
the reproach of cruelty, which this punishment proves he was
ready to employ against the enemies of his authority, whether
brigands or image-worshippers. His error, therefore, was not
only passing laws against liberty of conscience — ^which was
a fault in accordance with the spirit of the age — but in carry-
ing these laws into execution with a cruelty ofi*ensive to
human feelings. Yet on many occasions Constantine gave
proofs of humanity, as well as of a desire to protect his
subjects. The Sclavonians on the coast of Thrace, having
fitted out some piratical vessels, carried off many of the
inhabitants of Tenedos, Imbros, and Samothrace, to sell them
as slaves. The emperor on this occasion ransomed two thou-
sand five hundred of his subjects, preferring to lower his own
dignity, by paying a tribute to the pirates, rather than allow
those who looked to him for protection to pine away their
lives in hopeless misery. No act of his reign shows so much
real greatness of mind as this. He also concluded the con-
vention with the Saracens for an exchange of prisoners, which
has been already mentioned — one of the earliest examples of
the exchanges between the Mohammedans and the Christians,
which afterwards became frequent on the Byzantine frontiers.
Man was exchanged for man, woman for woman, and child for
' Compsu^ Ducange, Qlossarium Mtd, tt Infim. Latini/euis, s. v. Bagaudat, with
WdUon, Hisioire de FEsclavagi dcms rAniiquUi, uL 387.
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child*. These conventions tended to save the lives of in-
numerable prisoners, and rendered the future wars between
the Saracens and Romans less barbarous.
Constantine was active in his internal administration, and
his schemes for improving the condition of the inhabitants of
his empire were carried out on a far more gigantic scale than
modem governments have considered practicable. One of his
plans for reviving agriculture in uncultivated districts was by
repeopling them with colonies of emigrants, to whom he
secured favourable conditions and efficient protection. On
the banks of the Artanes in Bithynia, a colony of two
hundred thousand Sclavonians was formed^. The Christian
population of Germanicia, Doliche, Melitene, and Theodosio-
polis was established in Thrace, to watch and restrain the
rude Sclavonians settled in that province ; and these Asiatic
colonists long continued to flourish and multiply ^. They are
even accused of spreading the heretical opinions which they
had brought from the East throughout great part of western
Europe, by the extent of their commercial relations and the
example of then- prosperity and honesty *. It is not to be
supposed that the measures of Constantine's administration,
however great his political abilities might be, were competent
to remove many of the social evils of his age. Agriculture
was still carried on in the rudest manner ; and as communica-
tions were difficult and insecure, and transport expensive,
capital could hardly be laid out on land to any extent with
much profit. As usual under such circumstances, we find
years of famine and plenty alternating in close succes-
sion. Yet the bitterest enemy of Constantine, the abbot
Theophanes, confesses that his reign was one of general
abundance. It is true, he reproaches him with loading the
husbandmen with taxes; but he also accuses him of being
' Theoph. 374.- At this time the slave-trade was very active, and the Venetians
carried on a flourishing commerce in Christian slaves with the Mohammedans.
Anastas. Dt Vii. Pont, Rom, 79 ; Episi. Hadriani, i. ep. xii. Even during the anarchy
that prevailed in western Europe at the end of the seventh century, Roman slave-
merchants imported slaves from Britain, as we know from the anecdote of St.
Gregory, repeated by all our historians.
• Niceph. Pat. 44 ; Theoph. 364.
» Niceph. Pat 43 ; Theoph. 354, 360.
* How fiir the Albigenses were indebted for their doctrines to these colonies
is still a question. See Schmidt, Hiuoire $i Dociritu de la Stctt d*s Catharts ott
AUngmU. 2 vols. 1849.
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a new Midas, who made gold so common in the hands of all
that it became cheap. The abbot's political economy, it must
be confessed, is not so orthodox as his calumny. If the
Patriarch Nicephorus, another enemy of Constantine, is to be
believed, grain was so abundant, or gold so rare, that sixty
measures of wheat, or seventy measures of barley, were sold
for a nomisma, or gold byzant^. To guard against severe
drought in the capital, and supply the gardens in its immediate
vicinity with water, Constantine repaired the great aqueduct
of Valens. The flourishing condition of the towns in Greece
at the time is attested by the fact, that the best workmen in
cement were sought in the Hellenic cities and the islands of
the Archipelago '-*.
The time and attention of Constantine, during his whole
reign, were principally engaged in military occupations. In
the eyes of his contemporaries he was judged 'by his military
conduct. His strategic abilities and indefatigable activity
were the most striking characteristics of his administration.
His campaigns, his financial measures, and the abundance
they created, were known to all ; but his ecclesiastical policy
affected comparatively few. Yet by that policy his reign has
been exclusively judged and condemned in modern times.
The grounds of the condemnation are unjust. He has not,
like his father, the merit of having saved an empire from ruin ;
but he may claim the honour of perfecting the reforms planned
by his father, and of re-establishing the military power of the
Roman empire on a basis that perpetuated Byzantine supre-
macy for several centuries. Hitherto historians have treated
the events of his reign as an accidental assemblage of facts ;
but surely, if he is to be rendered responsible for the persecu-
tion of the image-worshippers, in which he took comparatively
little part, he deserves credit for his military successes and
prosperous administration, since these were the result of his
constant personal occupation. The history of his ecclesiastical
measures, however, really possesses a deep interest, for they
" Niceph. Pat. 48 ; Theoph. 373. As a contrast to this cheapness, Theophanes
(35a) mentions that a measure of barley was sold for twelve nomismata while
Artavasdos was besieged in Constantinople.
" Theoph. 371. Six thousand nine hundred workmen were employed. One
thousand masons and two hundred plasterers were brought from Asia Minor and
Pontus; five hundred workers in cement from Greece and the islands of the
Archipelago ; five thousand labourers from Thrace, with two hundred potters.
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reflect with accuracy the feelings and ideas of millions of
his subjects, as well as of the emperor.
Constantine was a sincere enemy of image-worship, and
in his age sincerity implied bigotry, for persecution was
considered both lawful and meritorious. Yet with all his
energy, he was prudent in his first attempts to carry out
his father's policy. While he was struggling with Artavasdos,
and labouring to restore the discipline of his troops, and
re-establish the military superiority of the Byzantine arms,
he left the religious controversy concerning image-worship
to the two parties of the clergy who then disputed for
pre-eminence in the church. But when his power was
consolidated, he steadily pursued his father's plans for cen-
tralizing the ecclesiastical administration of the empire. To
prepare for the final decision of the question, which probably,
in his mind, related as much to the right of the emperor to
govern the church, as to the question whether pictures were
to be worshipped or not, he ordered the metropolitans and
archbishops to hold provincial synods, in order to discipline
the people for the execution of the edicts to which he pro-
posed to obtain the sanction of a general council of the
Eastern church ^.
This general council was convoked at Constantinople in
the year 754. It was attended by 338 bishops, forming the
most numerous assembly of the Christian clergy which had
ever been collected together for ecclesiastical legislation.
Theodosius, metropolitan of Ephesus, son of the Emperor
Tiberius III., presided, for the patriarchal chair had been
kept vacant since the death of Anastasios in the preceding
year. Neither the Pope nor the patriarchs of Antioch,
Alexandria, and Jerusalem sent representatives to this council,
which was solely composed of the Byzantine clergy, so that it
had no right to assume the rank of an oecumenical council.
Its decisions were all against image-worship, which it declared
to be contrary to Scripture. It proclaimed the use of images
and pictures in churches to be a pagan and antichristian
practice, the abolition of which was necessary to avoid leading
Christians into temptation. Even the use of the crucifix was
* Theoph. 358 : /ifAeraw' atKivr la Ka$* ktcdarrjv ir6?<iv rdv \a6p (v€i$f vpbt rd
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condemned, on the ground that the only true symbol of the
incarnation was the bread and wine which Christ had com-
manded to be received for the remission of sins. In its
opposition to the worship of pictures, the council was led
into the display of some animosity against painting itself;
and every attempt at embodying sacred subjects by what it
styled the dead and accursed art, foolishly invented by the
pagans, was strongly condemned. The common people were
thus deprived of a source of ideas^ which, though liable to
abuse, tended in general to civilize their minds,- and might
awaken noble thoughts and religious aspirations. We may
fully agree with the Iconoclasts in the religious importance of
not worshipping images, and not allowing the people to
prostrate themselves on the pavements of churches before
pictures of saints, whether said to be painted by human
artists or miraculous agency; while at the same time we
think that the walls of the vestibules or porticoes of sacred
edifices may with propriety be adorned with pictures repre-
senting those sacred subjects most likely to awaken feelings
of Christian charity. It is by embodying and ennobling the
expression of feelings common to all mankind, that modem
artists can alone unite in their works that combination of
truth with the glow of creative imagination which gives a
divine stamp to many pagan works. There is nothing in
the circle of human affairs so democratic as art. The Council
of 754> however, deemed that it was necessary to sacrifice art
to the purity of religion. * The godless art of painting ' was
proscribed. All who manufactured crucifixes or sacred paint-
ings for worship, in public or private, whether laymen or
monks, were ordered to be excommunicated by the church
and punished by the state. At the same time, in order to
guard against the indiscriminate destruction of sacred build-
ings and shrines possessing valuable ornaments and rich plate
and jewels, by Iconoclastic zeal, or under its pretext, the
council commanded that no alteration was to be made in
existing churches, without the special permission of the
patriarch and the emperor — a regulation bearing strong marks
of the fiscal rapacity of the central treasury of the Roman
empire. The bigotry of the age was displayed in the ana-
thema which this council pronounced against three of the
most distinguished and virtuous advocates of image-worship,
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Germanos, the Patriarch of Constantinople, George of Cyprus,
and John Damascenus, the last of the fathers of the Greek
church ^.
The ecclesiastical decisions of the council served as the
basis for penal enactments by the civil power. The success
of the emperor in restoring prosperity to the empire, induced
many of his subjects to believe that he was destined to reform
the church as well as the state, and few thinking men could
doubt that corruption had entered deep into both. In many
minds there was a contest between the superstitions of picture-
worship and the feeling of respect for the emperor's admin-
istration ; but there were still in the Roman empire many
persons of education, unconnected with the church, who
regarded the superstitions of the people with aversion. To
them the reverence paid by the ignorant to images said to
have fallen from heaven, to pictures painted by St. Luke,
to viigins who wept, and to saints who supplied the lamps
burning before their effigies with a perpetual fountain of oil,
appeared rank idolatry ^ There were also still a few men of
philosophic minds who exercised the right of private judgment
on public questions, both civil and ecclesiastical, and who felt
that the emperor was making popular superstition the pretext
for rendering his power despotic in the church as in the state.
His conduct appeared to these men a violation of those
principles of Roman law and ecclesiastical legislation which
rendered the systematic government of society in the Roman
empire superior to the arbitrary rule of Mohammedan
despotism, or the wild license of Gothic anarchy. The Greek
church had not hitherto made it imperative on its members to
worship images ; — it had o^ly tolerated popular abuse in the
reverence paid to these symbols — so that the ignorant monks
who resisted the enlightened Iconoclasts might, by liberal-
minded men, be considered as the true defenders of the right
of private judgment, and as benefactors of mankind. There
is positive evidence that such feelings really existed, and they
could not exist without producing some influence on society
* The acts of this council are only known from the garbled portions preserved
hf its enemies in the acts of the second council of Nicaea and the hostile historians.
Coleti, Acta S. Conciliomm, torn. viii. p. 1457.
• • At Athens is a church of the blessed Virgin Mary, which has a lamp that
bums always, and never wanU oil.' Thi Travels of Satwu\f, 3a, in Early Travth in
PaUuitu, Bohn's edit
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generally. Less than forty years after the death of Constan-
tine, the tolerant party was so numerous that it could struggle
in the imperial cabinet to save heretics from persecution, on
the ground that the church had no authority to ask that men
should be condemned to death for matters of belief, as God
may always turn the mind of the sinner to repentance.
Theophanes has recorded the existence of these humane
sentiments in his eagerness to blame them \
Many of the clergy boldly resisted the edicts of Constan-
tine to enforce the new ecclesiastical legislation against
images and pictures. They held that all the acts of the
council of Constantinople were void, for a general council
could only be convoked by an orthodox emperor ; and they
took upon themselves to declare the opinions of Constantine
heterodox. The monks engaged with eagerness in the
controversy which arose. The Pope, the patriarchs of
Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, replied to the excom-
munications of the council by condemning all its supporters
to eternal perdition. The emperor, enraged at the opposition
he met with, enforced the execution of his edicts with all the
activity and energy of his character ; his political as well as
his religious views urged him to be a persecutor. It is evident
that policy and passion were as much connected with his
violence against the image-worshippers as religious feeling,
for he treated many heretics with toleration who appeared
to be quiet and inoffensive subjects, incapable of offering
any opposition to his political and ecclesiastical schemes. The
Theopaschites, the Paulicians, and the Monophysites enjoyed
religious toleration during his whole reign ^
In the year 766 the edicts against image- worship were
extended in their application, and enforced with additional
rigour. The use of relics and the practice of praying to
saints were prohibited. Many monks, and several members
of the dignified clergy, were banished ; stripes,, loss of the
eyes and of the tongue, were inflicted as legal punishments
for prostration before a picture, or praying before a relic.
Yet, even at this period of the greatest excitement, the
emperor at times displayed great personal forbearance ;
* Theoph. 419: Ibor^yJkTi^ov Z\ i^ftaBwi fxii i^ttyai Uptvair dwofcdy^cOcu teard
datfi&v Bavarov,
« Theoph. 354, 360.
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when, however, either policy or passion prompted him to
order punishment to be inflicted, it was done with fearful
severity ^.
Two cases may be mentioned as affording a correct elucida-
tion of the personal conduct of Constantine. A hermit,
named Andreas the Kalybite, presented himself before the
emperor, and upbraided him for causing dissension in the
church. * If thou art a Christian, why dost thou persecute
Christians ? ' shouted the monk to his prince, with audacious
orthodoxy. Constantine ordered him to be carried off to
prison for insulting the imperial authority. He was then
called upon to submit to the decisions of the general council ;
and when he refused to admit the validity of its canons, and
to obey the edicts of the emperor, he was tried and con-
demned to death. After being scourged in the hippodrome,
he was beheaded, and his body, according to the practice of
the age, was cast into the sea.
Stephen, the abbot of a monastery near Nicomedia, was
banished to the island of Proconnesus, on account of his firm
opposition to the emperor's edicts ; but his fame for piety
drew numerous votaries to his place of banishment, who
flocked thither to hear him preach. This assembly of seditious
and pious persons roused the anger of the civil authorities,
and Stephen was brought to Constantinople, to be more
strictly watched. His eloquence still drew crowds to the door
of his prison; and the reverence shown to him by his followers
vexed the emperor so much, that he gave vent to his mortifi-
cation by exclaiming — * It seems, in truth, that this monk is
really emperor, and I am nothing in the empire.' This speech
was heard by some of the officers of the imperial guard. Like
that of Henry II. concerning Thomas-^-Becket, it caused the
death of Stephen. He was dragged from his prison by some
of the emperor's guard, and cruelly murdered. The soldiery
and the people joined in dragging his body through the
streets, and his unburied remains were left exposed in the
place destined to receive those of the lowest criminals. Both
Stephen and Andreas were declared martyrs, and rewarded
with a place in the calendar of Greek saints ^.
* Theoph. 370. Bonefidius (>i» Orientalt, 4) quotes this edict against relics
from Cedrenns. Mortreuil, i. 549.
• Their festiYal is celebrated on the aSth November, old style. Minoiogium
Oraeconan Jussu Baalii Imp.^ 3 voU. foL, Urbini, 1727, voL i. ai6.
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Orthodox zeal and party ambition combined to form a
dangerous conspiracy against Constantine. Men of the
highest rank engaged in the plot, and even the Patriarch
Constantinos, though himself an Iconoclast, appears to have
joined the conspirators. He was removed from the patri-
archate, and the dignity was conferred on a Sclavonian
prelate, named Niketas^. The deposed Patriarch was brought
to trial and condemned to death. Constantinos, after his
condemnation, and apparently with the hope of having his
life spared, signed a declaration that he believed the worship
of images to be idolatry, that the decrees of the council of
Constantinople contained the true doctrines of the orthodox
church, and that the faith of the emperor was pure- This
last article was added because the patriarch was accused
of having countenanced reports charging the emperor with
heterodox opinions concerning the Virgin. If Constantinos
expected mercy by his pliancy, he was mistaken. His sen-
tence was carried into execution in the cruelest manner. The
head of the Greek church was placed on an ass, with his face
towards the tail, and conducted through the streets of the
capital, while the mob treated him with every insult. On
reaching the amphitheatre, his head was struck off. It may
easily be supposed that, when the highest ecclesiastic in the
empire was treated in this manner in the capital, the severity
of the imperial agents in the distant provinces was often fear-
fully tyrannical.
The spirit of ecclesiastical bigotry which has so often led
popes, princes, and Protestants to burn those who differed
from them in matters of opinion, gave the image-worshippers
as much fortitude to resist as it gave their opponents cruelty
to persecute. The religious and political reforms of the
Isaurian emperors were equally a subject of aversion to the
Pope and the Italians ; and all the possessions of the emperors
in central Italy had been rendered virtually independent, even
^ Glycas (284) has preserved an anecdote which affords an amusing illustration
of the fact that the Greek element m society at Constantinople was not yet the
all-predominant. The Patriarch Niketas may have spoken Latin better than
Greek, for there was something far from Hellenic in his accent and ideas. One
day, reading the New Testament, he pronounced the name of the evangelist
VlaT$6XWt and not Mar&aiov. One of his suite observed that the vowels 3 the
diphthong were not to be separated. The Sclavonian patriarch, displeased at
the correction, turned angrily round, and said, * Don't talk nonsense; my soul
utterly abhors diphthongs and triphthongs T
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before Constantine convoked the council of Constantinople.
His stru^le with the Saracens and Bulgarians had prevented
his making any effort in Italy. At Rome, however, the popes
continued to acknowledge the civil and judicial supremacy of
the emj^ror of the East, even after the Lombards had
conquered the exarchate of Ravenna. But the impossibility
of receiving any support from Constantine against the en-
croachments of the Lombards, induced Pope Stephen II.
to apply to Pepin of France for assistance. Pope Paul I.
afterwards carried his eagerness to creatfe a quarrel between
Pepin and Constantine so far, that he accused the emperor of
hostile designs against Italy, which he was well aware Con-
stantine had little time or power to execute^. Pepin, who
was anxious to gain the aid of papal authority in his projects
of usurpation, made a donation of the exarchate of Ravenna
to the papal see in the year 755, though he had not the
smallest right to dispose of it. The donation, however, sup-
plied the Pope with a pretext for laying claim to the sove-
reignty over the country; and there can be no doubt that the
papal government was at this period very popular among the
Italians^ for it secured them the administration of justice
according to the Roman law, guaranteed to them a con-
siderable d^ree of municipal independence, and permitted
them to maintain their commercial relations with the Byzan-
tine empire. The political dependence of many of the cities
in central Italy, which escaped the Lombard domination, was
not absolutely withdrawn from the empire of the East until
a new emperor of the West was created, on the assumption of
the imperial crown by Charlemagne, to whom the allegiance
of the Italians, who threw off Constantine's authority, was at
last transferred *.
Some remarkable physical phenomena occurred during the
reign of Constantine. An unnatural darkness obscured the
sun from the loth to the 15th of August in the year 746. It
terrified the inhabitants of Constantinople at the time it
occurred ; and when the great pestilence broke out in the
following year, it was regarded as a prognostic of that calamity.
In the year 750, violent earthquakes destroyed whole towns
» Codex Cardinus, ep. 34, 35. A.D. 758; Schlosser, 219.
* Anastas. Dt Vitis Pont, Rom, loi, loa.
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in Syria. In the month of October 763, a winter of singular
severity commenced long before severe cold generally sets in
at Constantinople. The Bosphorus was frozen over, and men
passed on foot between Europe and Asia in several places-
The Black Sea was covered with ice from the Palus Maeotis
to Mesembria. When the thaw began in the month of Feb-
ruary 764, immense mountains of ice were driven through
the Bosphorus, and dashed with such violence against the
walls of Constantinople as to threaten them with ruin. These
icebergs were seventy feet in thickness; and Theophanes
mentions that, when a boy, he mounted on one of them with
thirty of his young companions ^
One calamity in the age of Constantine appears to have
travelled over the whole habitable world ; this was the great
pestilence, which made its appearance in the Byzantine
empire as early as 745. It had previously carried off a con-
siderable portion of the population of Syria, and the Caliph
Yezid III. perished of tiie disease in 744. From Syria it
visited Egypt and Africa, from whence it passed into Sicily.
After making great ravages in Sicily and Calabria, it spread
to Greece; and at last, in the year 749, it broke out with
terrible violence in Constantinople, then probably the most
populous city in the universe. It was supposed to have been
introduced, and dispersed through Christian countries, by the
Venetian and Greek ships employed in carrying 6n a contra-
band trade in slaves with the Mohammedan nations, and it
spread wherever commerce extended. Monemvasia, one of
the great commercial cities at the time, received the con-
tagion with the return of its trading vessels, and disseminated
the disease over all Greece and the islands of the Archipelago.
On the continent, this plague threatened to exterminate the
Hellenic race.
Historians have left us a vivid picture of the horrors of
this fearful visitation, which show us that the terror it inspired
disturbed the fabric of society. Strange superstitions pre-
occupied men's minds, and annihilated every sense of duty.
Some appeared to be urged by a demoniacal impulse to
commit heinous but useless crimes, with the wildest reckless-
ness. Small crosses of unctuous matter were supposed to
* Theoph. 365.
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appear suddenly, traced by an invisible hand on the clothes
of persons as they were engaged in their ordinary pursuits ;
examples were narrated of their having appeared suddenly
visible to the eyes of the assembled congregation on the
vestments of the priest as he officiated at the altar. The
individual thus marked out was invariably assailed by the
disease on his return home, and soon died. Crosses were
constantly found traced on the doors and outer walls of build-
ings ; houses, palaces, huts, and monasteries were alike marked.
This was considered as an intimation that some of the inmates
were ordered to prepare for immediate death. In the de-
lirium of fear and the first paroxysms of the plague, many
declared that they beheld hideous spectres wandering about ;
these apparitions were seen flitting through the crowded
streets of the city, at times questioning the passengers, at
times walking into houses before the inmates, and then
driving the proprietors from the door. At times it was said
that these spectres had even attacked the citizens with naked
swords. That these things were not reported solely on the
delusion of the fancy of persons rendered insane by attacks
of disease, is asserted by a historian who was bom about ten
years later, and who certainly passed his youth at Constanti-
nople'. The testimony of Theophanes is confirmed by the
records of similar diseases in other populous cities. . The
uncertainty of life offers additional chances of impunity to
crime, and thus relaxes the power of the law and weakens
the bonds of moral restraint. Danger is generally what man
fears little, when there are several chances of escape. The
bold and wicked, deriding the general panic, frequently make
periods of pestilence times of revelry and plunder ; the very
individuals charged as policemen to preserve order in society,
finding themselves free from control, have been known to
assume the disguise of demons, in order to plunder the
terrified and superstitious with impunity. The predominant
passions of all find full scope when the feeling of responsibility
is removed ; shame is thrown aside, the most unfeeling avarice
and the wildest debauchery are displayed. But, at the same
time, it is on such fearful occasions that we see examples
of the noblest courage, the most devoted self-sacrifice, and
* Theoph. 355. He was born a.d. 758.
VOL. II. F n \
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the purest charity. Boccaccio and Defoe, in describing the
scenes which occurred at Florence in 1348, and at London in
1665, afford a correct picture of what happened at Constanti-
nople in 747.
The number of dead was so great, that when the ordinary
means of transporting the bodies to interment were insufficient,
boxes were slung over the pack-saddles of mules, into which
the dead were cast without distinction of rank. When the
mules became insufficient, low chariots were constructed to
receive piles of human bodies, and these frightful hearses
were drawn through the streets to receive their loads, by
a crowd of men who received a fixed sum of money with
each body. Long trenches were prepared without the walls,
to serve as graves for hundreds of bodies, and into these the
aged beggar and the youthful noble were precipitated side by
side. When all the cemeteries around the capital were filled,
and the panic kept the mass of the population shut up in
their dwellings, bodies were interred in the fields and vine-
yards nearest to the city gates, or they were cast into vacant
houses and empty cisterns. The disease prevailed for a year,
and left whole houses tenantless, having exterminated many
families ^ We possess no record of the number of deaths it
caused, but if we suppose the population of Constantinople at
the time to have exceeded a million, we may form an estimate
of the probable loss it sustained, by observing that, during
the great plague at Milan, in 1630, about eighty-six thousand
persons perished in the course of a year, in a population
hardly exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand souls *.
After the plague had completely disappeared, the capital
required an immense influx of new inhabitants. To fill up
the void, Constantine induced many Greek families from the
continent and the islands to emigrate to Constantinople.
These new citizens immediately occupied a well-defined social
position ; for whether artisans, tradesmen, merchants, or house-
holders, they became members of established corporations,
and knew how to act in their new relations of life without
embarrassment. It was by the perfection of its corporate
' Niceph. Pat. 43, 87.
' Ripamonti, La PisH di Milano dd 1630, dal orinnal Latino da Francesco
Cusani, Milano, 1841. At Florence, one hundred uousand are said to have
died of the plague ; at London, ninety thousand.
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societies and police regulations, that the Byzantine empire
effected the translocation of the inhabitants of whole cities
and provinces, without misfortune or discontent. By modify-
ing the fiscal severity of the Roman government, by relieving
the members of the municipality from the ruinous obligation
of mutual responsibility for the total amount of the land-tax,
and by relaxing the laws that fettered children to the pro-
fession or handicraft of their parents, the Byzantine adminis-
tration infused new energy into an enfeebled social system.
It still preserved, as an inheritance from Rome, an intimate
knowledge of the practical methods of regulating the relative
supplies of labour, food, and population in the manner least
likely to inconvenience the government, though undoubtedly
with little reference to the measures best calculated to advance
the happiness of the people ^.
This memorable pestilence produced as great changes in
the provinces as in the capital. While the population of Con-
stantinople lost much of its Roman character and traditions
by the infusion of a large number of Greek emigrants, Greece
itself lost also much of its Hellenic character and ancient
traditions, by the departure of a considerable portion of its
native middle classes for Constantinople, and the destruction
of a large part by the plague itself. The middle classes
of the Hellenic cities flocked to Constantinople, while an
inferior class from the villages crowded to supply their place,
and thus a general translocation of the population was effected;
and though this emigration may have been confined principally
to the Greek race, it must have tended greatly to separate the
future traditions of the people from those of an earlier period.
The Athenian or the Lacedaemonian who settled at Constan-
tinople lost all local characteristics ; and the emigrants from
the islands, who supplied their place at Athens and Lacedae-
mon, mingled their traditions and dialect with the Attic and
Doric prejudices of their new homes : ancient traditions were
thus consigned to oblivion. The depopulation on the con-
tinent and in the Peloponnesus was also so great that the
Sclavonian population extended their settlements over the
greater part of the open country; the Greeks crowded into
' For the Byzantine system of taxation, as fer as direct payment bv the indi-
vidual is concerned, see Zonaras, ii. 224; Cedrenus, 706-723 ; Mortreuil, iii. 105.
Fa - T
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the towns, or into the districts immediately under the protec-
tion of their walls. The Sclavonian colonies, which had been
gradually increasing ever since the reign of Heraclius, attained
at this time their greatest extension ; and the depopulation
caused by this pestilence is said by the Emperor Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, who wrote two centuries later, to have been
so great, that the Sclavonians occupied the whole of the open
country in Greece and the Peloponnesus, and reduced it to a
state of barbarism ^ The emperor perhaps confounded in
some degree the general translocation of the Greek population
itself with the occupation of extensive districts, then aban-
doned to Sclavonian cultivators and herdsmen. It is certain,
however, that from this time the oblivion of the ancient
Hellenic names of villages, districts, rivers, and mountains
became general ; and the final extinction of those dialects,
which marked a direct affiliation of the inhabitants of par-
ticular spots with the ancient Hellenic population of the same
districts, was consummated. The new names which came
into use, whether Sclavonian or Greek, equally mark the loss
of ancient traditions *.
In closing the history of the reig^ of Constantine V., it is
necessary to observe that he deserves praise for the care with
which he educated his family. The most bigoted image-
Worshippers inform us that he was so mild in his domestic
circle that he permitted his third wife to protect a nun named
Anthusa, who was a most devoted worshipper of images ; and
one of the emperor's daughters received from this nun both
her name and education. The Princess Anthusa was dis-
tinguished for her benevolence and piety; she is said to have
founded one of the first orphan asylums established in the
Christian world; and her orthodox devotion to pictures
obtained for her a place among the saints of the Greek church,
an honour granted also to her godmother and teacher^.
' D* Thematibus, ii. 25.
• Strabonis Epitorm, edit. AlmeloYeen, 1251-1261; edit. Coray, torn. iii. 373-
386.
• Mtnoiogium Oraecorum^ torn. iii. 60-183. The fiestival of Constantine's daugh-
ter was celebrated on the xyth April, and that of the nun Anthusa on the 27th
July.
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LEO IV. 69
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Sect. IV. — Reigns of Leo IV. {the Khazar\ Constantine F/.,
and Irene ^ A.D. 775-802.
l«o rV., A,D. 775-780. — Irene regent for her son. — Restores image-worship. —
Second Council Qf Nicaea. — Extinction of Byzantine authority at Rome. —
Constantine assumes the government. — Divorces Maria and marries Theodota.
— Opposition of monks. — Persecution of Theodore Studita. — Irene dethrones
Constantine VI. — Policy of reigns of Constantine VI. and Irene. — Saracen
war. — ^Bulgarian war.
Leo IV. succeeded his father at the age of twenty-five.
His mother, Irene, was the daughter of the emperor or chagan
of the Khazars, then a powerful people, through whose terri-
tories the greater paw-t of the commercial intercourse between
the Christians and the rich countries in eastern Asia was
carried on. Leo inherited from his mother a mild and
amiable disposition ; nor does he appear to have been desti-
tute of some portion of his father's talents, but the state of his
health prevented him from displaying the same activity. His
reign lasted four years and a half, and his administration was
conducted in strict accordance with the policy of his father
and g^ndfather. The weak state of his health kept the
public attention fixed on the question of the imperial succes-
sion. Constantine V. had selected an Athenian lady, of great
beauty and accomplishments, named Irene, to be his son's
wife, and Leo had a son named Constantine, who was bom in
the year 771. The indefinite nature of the imperial succes-
sion, and the infancy of Leo's child, gave the two half-brothers
of the emperor, who had been invested by their father with
the rank of Caesar, some hope of ascending the throne on
their brother's death. Leo conferred on his infant son the
title of Emperor, in order to secure his successiort ; and this
was done in a more popular manner than usual, at the express
desire of the senate, in order to give the ceremony all the
character of a popular election. The young emperor's five
uncles — the two Caesars, and three who bore the title of
Nobilissimi — were compelled to take the same oath of alle-
giance as the other subjects ^ Yet shortly after this the elder
* Thcoph. 380; Zonaras, ii. 114, where the popular character of the assembly
is expressly pointed out: Ra2 &yuoaav Avavrti olx o^ '*'!* Xvynk^rov fiov\rj$ tcai
oi TW arpanvfiaroi yulwoVy iXKh. xot b ^yMi\% ^x^o* *^ l^fiwopoi ical ot rSiv ipyaC'
-nfpUt^ wpo€irrfiMfaay, ledt tyypfupa wtpl roiioav i^i0tvTo. This mention of the
corporation of artisans is curious.
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70 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
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Caesar, Nicephorus, formed a conspiracy to render himself
master of the government. Leo, who felt that he was rapidly
sinking into the grave, referred the decision of his brother's
guilt to a Silention, which condemned all the conspirators to
death. Nicephorus was pardoned, but his partisans were
scourged and banished to Cherson. The death of Leo IV.
happened on the 8th of September 780 \
Constantine was ten years old when his father died, so that
the whole direction of the empire devolved on his mother,
Irene, who had received the imperial crown from Constantine
V. ; for that emperor seems to have felt that the weak state of
Leo's health would require the assistance of Irene's talents.
The virtues Irene had displayed in a private station were
insufficient to resist the corrupting influence of irresponsible
power. Ambition took possession of her whole soul, and it
was the ambition of reigning alone, not of reigning well. The
education of her son was neglected — perhaps as a means of
securing her power; favour was avowedly a surer road to
preferment than long service, so that the court became a
scene of political intrigue, and personal motives decided most
public acts. As no organ of public opinion possessed the
power of awakening a sense of moral responsibility among
the officers of state, the intrigues of the court ended in
conspiracies, murder, and treason.
The parties struggling for power soon ranged themselves
under the banners of the ecclesiastical factions that had long
divided the empire. Little, probably, did many of the leaders
care what party they espoused in the 'religious question ; but
it was necessary to proclaim themselves members of an eccle-
siastical faction in order to secure a popular following. The
Empress Irene was known to favour image-worship : as a
woman and a Greek, this was natural \ yet policy would have
dictated to her to adopt that party as the most certain manner
of securing support powerful enough to counterbalance the
* I doubt whether the authority of Cedrenus (469), negatived by the siloice of
earlier zealots, can authorise our believing the anecdote that the Emperor Leo
discovered pictures of saints under Irene's pillow, and quarrelled with her in
eonsequence ; nor do I think the story of his having taken one of the crowns
from the church of St. Sophia of any importance, since it could not have been the
cause of his death. Divine vengeance certainlv did not visit Leo with sudden
death, whether he took the crown from St. Sophia's or not. See the torn Con-
stantine Pori^yrogenitus gives the anecdote ; Be Adm. Imp. 64.
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IRENE REGENT, 7 1
family influence of the Isaurian dynasty, which was now
wielded by the uncles of the young emperor. The conflict
between the image-worshippers and the Iconoclasts soon com-
menced. The Caesar Nicephorus, who was as ambitious as
his sister-in-law, was eager to drive her from the regency.
He organized a conspiracy, in which several ministers and
members of the senate took part. Irene obtained full proof
of all its ramifications before the conspirators were prepared
to act, seized her five brothers-in-law, and compelled them to
enter the priesthood. In order to make it generally known
that they had assumed the sacerdotal character, they were
obliged to officiate during the Christmas ceremonies at the
high altar of St Sophia's, while the young emperor and his
mother restored to the church the rich jewels of which it had
been deprived by the preceding emperors. The intendant-
general of posts, the general of the Armeniac theme, the
commander of the imperial guard, and the admiral of the
Archipelago, who had all taken part in the conspiracy, were
scourged and immured as monks in distant monasteries.
Elpidios, the governor of Sicily, assumed the title of emperor
as soon as he found that his participation in the plot was
known at court ; but he was compelled to seek shelter among
the Saracens, in whose armies he afterwards served. Nice-
phorus Doukas, another conspirator, fled to the Mohamme-
dans \ Some years later, when Constantine VI. had assumed
the government into his own hands, a new conspiracy was
formed by the partisans of his uncles (a.D. 79a). The princes
were then treated with great severity. The Caesar Nice-
phorus was deprived of sight ; and the tongues of the others
were cut out, by the order of their nephew, not long before he
lost his own eyes by the order of his mother.
The influence of the clergy in the ordinary administration
of justice, and the great extent to which ecclesiastical legisla-
tion r^^lated civil rights, rendered councils of the church an
important feature in those forms and usages that practically
circumscribed the despotic power of the emperor by a frame-
work of customs, opinions, and convictions which he could
* Theoph. 383, 384. Theophylactos, Bon of RhangaW. was the admiral of the
Archipelago, or Dningarios of Dodclomesos. This is the earliest mention of the
twelve islands as a geographical and administrative division of the empire. It
was retained by the Cm^iders when they conquered Greece.
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72 ICONOCLAST PERIOD,
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with difficulty alter, and rarely oppose without danger. The
political ambition of Irene, the national vanity of the Greeks,
and the religious feelings of the orthodox, required the sanction
of a constitutional public authority, before the laws against
image-worship could be openly repealed. The Byzantine
empire had at this time an ecclesiastical, though not a
political constitution. The will of th6 sovereign was alone
insufficient to change an organic law, forming part of the
ecclesiastical administration of the empire. It was necessary
to convoke a general council to legalize image-worship ; and
to render such a council a fit instrument for the proposed
revolution, much arrangement Was necessary. No person was
ever endued with greater talents for removing opposition and
conciliating personal support than the empress. The Patri-
arch Paul, a decided Iconoclast, was induced to resign, and
declare that he repented of his hostility to image-worship,
because it had cut off the church of Constantinople from
communion with the rest of the Christian world. This
declaration pointed out the necessity of holding a general
council, in order to re-establish that communion. The crisis
required a new Patriarch of stainless character, great ability,
and perfect acquaintance with the party connections and
individual characters of the leading bishops. No person could
be selected from among the dignitaries of the church, who
had been generally appointed by Iconoclast emperors. The
choice of Irene fell on a civilian. Tarasios, the chief
secretary of the imperial cabinet — a man of noble birth,
considerable popularity, and a high reputation for learning
and probity — was suddenly elevated to be the head of the
Greek church, and allowed to be not unworthy of the high
rank. The orthodox would probably have raised a question
concerning the legality of nominating a layman, had it not
been evident that the objection would favour the interests of
their opponents. The empress and her advisers were not
bold enough to venture on an irretrievable declaration in
favour of image-worship, until they had obtained a public
assurance of popular support. An assembly of the inhabi-
tants of the capital was convoked in the palace of Magnaura,
in order to secure a majority pledged to the cause of Tarasios.
The fact that such an assembly was considered necessary, is a
strong proof that the strength of the rival parties was very
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nearly balanced, and that this manifestation of public opinion
was required in order to relieve the empress from personal
responsibility. Irene proposed to the assembly that Tarasios
should be elected Patriarch, and the proposal was received
with general acclamation. Tarasios, however, refused the
dignity, declaring that he would not acce^ the Patriarchate
unless a general council should be convoked for restoring unity
to the church. The convocation of a council was adopted,
and the nomination of Tarasios ratified. Though great care
had been taken to fill this assembly with image-worshippers,
nevertheless several dissentient voices made themselves heard,
protesting against the proceedings as an attack on the exist-
ing legislation of the empire \
The Iconoclasts were still strong in the capital, and the
opposition of the soldiery was excited by the determination
of Tarasios to re-establish image-worship. They openly
declared that they would not allow a council of the church to
be held, nor permit the ecclesiastics of their party to be
unjustly treated by the court. More than one tumult warned
the empress that no council could be held at Constantinople.
It was found necessary to disperse the Iconoclastic soldiery in
distant provinces, and form new cohorts of guards devoted to
the court, before any steps could be publicly taken to change
the laws of the church. The experience of Tarasios as a
minister of state was rtiorc useful to Irene during the first
period of his patriarchate than his theological learning. It
required nearly three yearis to smooth the way for the
meeting of the council, which was at length held at Nicaea,
in September 787. Three hundred and sixty-seven members
attended, of whom, however, not a few were abbots and
monks, who assumed the title of confessors from having been
ejected from their monasteries by the decrees of the Icono-
clast sovereigns. Some of the persons present deserve to be
particularly mentioned, for they have individually conferred
greater benefits on mankind by their learned labours, than they
rendered to Christianity by their zealous advocacy of image-
worship in this council. The secretary of the two commis-
sioners who represented the imperial authority was Nicephorus
the historian, subsequently Patriarch of Constantinople ^. His
* Theoph. 386; Colcti, Acta S, Coneiliorum, viii. 677; Schlosser, 278.
• Nicephonis was Patriarch firom 806 to 815 ; he died in 828.
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sketch of the history of the empire, from the year 6oa to
770, is a valuable work, and indicates that he was a man of
judgment, whenever his perceptions were not obscured by
theological and ecclesiastical prejudices. Two other eminent
Byzantine writers were also present. George, called Syn-
cellus, from the oftce he held under the Patriarch Tarasios.
He has left us a chronological work, which has preserved the
knowledge of many important facts recorded by no other
ancient authority '. Theophanes, the friend and companion
of the Syncellus, has continued this work ; and his chrono-
graphy of Roman and Byzantine history, with all its faults,
forms the best picture of the condition of the empire that
we possess for a long period. Theophanes enjoyed the
honour of becoming, at a later day, a confessor in the cause
of image-worship ; he was exiled from a monastery which
he had founded, and died in the island of Samothrace,
A.D. 8172.
The second council of Nicaea had no better title than the
Iconoclast council of Constantinople to be regarded as a
general council of the church. The Pope Hadrian, indeed,
sent deputies from the Latin church ; but the churches of
Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, whose patriarchs were
groaning under the government of the caliphs, did not dare to
communicate with foreign authorities. An attempt was
nevertheless made to deceive the world into a belief that they
were represented, by allowing two monks from Palestine to
present themselves as the syncelli of these patriarchs, without
scrutinizing the validity of their credentials. Pope Hadrian,
though he sent deputies, wrote at the same time to Tarasios,
making several demands tending to establish the ecclesias-
tical supremacy of the papal See, and complaining in strong
terms that the Patriarch of Constantinople had no right to
assume the title of oecumenic. The hope of recovering the
estates of the patrimony of St. Peter in the Byzantine pro-
vinces, which had been sequestrated by Leo HL, and of
re-establishing the supremacy of the See of Rome, made
* George Syncellus died in 800. His chronography extends from Adam to
Diocletian.
* The chronography of Theophanes extends from Diocletian, a.d. 285, to a.d.
813. It is the best authority for Byzantine history after the time of Leo III.
His life, by Theodoriis, abbot of Studion in Constantinople, is prefixed to the
editions of the chronography.
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Hadrian overlook much that was offensive to papal
pride ^.
The second council of Nicaea authorized the worship of
images as an orthodox practice. Forged passages, pretending
to be extracts from the earlier fathers, and genuine quotations
from the modern, were cited in favour of the practice.
Simony was already a prevailing evil in the Greek church.
Many of the bishops had purchased their sees, and most of
these naturally preferred doing violence to their opinions
rather than lose their revenues. From this cause, unanimity
was easily obtained by court influence. The council decided,
that not only was the cross an object of reverence, but also
that the images of Christ and the pictures of the Virgin
Mary — of angels, saints, and holy men, whether painted in
colours, or worked in embroidery in sacred ornaments, or
formed in mosaic in the walls of churches — ^were all lawful
objects of worship. At the same time, in order to guard
against the accusation of idolatry, it was declared that the
worship of an image, which is merely a sign of reverence,
must not be confounded with the adoration due only to God.
The council of Constantinople held in 754 was declared
heretical, and all who maintained its doctrines, and con-
demned the use of images, were anathematized. The patri-
archs Anastasios, Constantinos, and Niketas were especially
doomed to eternal condemnation.
The Pope adopted the decrees of this council, but he
refused to confirm them officially, because the empress
delayed restoring the estates of St. Peter's patrimony. In
the countries of western Europe which had formed parts of
the Western Empire, the superstitions of the image-wor-
shippers were viewed with as much dissatisfaction as the
fanaticism of the Iconoclasts ; and the council of Nicaea was
as much condemned as that of Constantinople by a large
body of enlightened ecclesiastics. The public mind in the
West was almost as much divided as in the East ; and if a
general council of the Latin church had been assembled, its
unbiassed decisions would probably have been at variance
with those supported by the Pope and the council of Nicaea.
* Schlosser, 279; Colcti, Acta S, Conciliorum, viiL 748; Ncandcr, iii. aaS (Tor-
Tcfs translation).
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Charlemagne published a refutation of the doctrines of this
council on the subject of image-worship. His work, called the
Caroline Books, consists of four parts, and was certainly
composed under his immediate personal superintendence,
though he was doubtless incapable of writing it himself^.
At all events, it was published as his composition. This
work condemns the superstitious bigotry of the Greek image-
worshippers in a decided manner, while at the same time it
only blames the misguided zeal of the Iconoclasts. Altogether,
it is a very remarkable production, and gives a more cor-
rect idea of the extent to which Roman civilization still
survived in Western society, and counterbalanced ecclesias-
tical influence, than any other contemporary document *. In
794 Charlemagne assembled a council of three hundred
bishops at Frankfort ; and, in the presence of the papal
legates, this council maintained that pictures ought to be
placed in churches, but that they should not be worshipped,
but only regarded with respect, as recalling more vividly to
the mind the subjects represented ^. The similarity existing
at this time in the opinions of enlightened men throughout
the whole Christian world must be noted as a proof that
general communications and commercial intercourse still
afforded mediums for pervading society with common senti-
ments. The dark night of mediaeval ignorance and local
* The title of the first edition is 0pm illust. Viri Caroli Magm Regis Franeontm
etc, contra Synodum quae in Partibus Graeeiae pro adorandis Imaginihus stolide uv€
arro^anter geUa est. Sec. 1549. i6mo. It was published by Jean du Tillet (Eli
Phili), afterwards bishop of Meaax. There is an edition, with a learned preface,
by Christopher A. Heumann, Hanover, 1731. 8vo. Alcuin, of course, deserves
all the credit due to the literary jtnd theological merits of the Caroline Books.
' Charlemagne mentions that he had learned from his ambassadors, that though
the Greeks expended large sums on decorations and paintings, they allowed their
churches to fall to ruin; and he contrasts the magnificent endowments of the
Frank churches with the meanness of the Greek. It is really surprising how few
churches of any size appear to have been constructed in the Byzantine empire,
when we remember that for many centuries it was the richest country in the
world, and the one most occupied with ecclesiastical affairs and church ceremonies.
Several small Byzantine churches at Athens are said to have been constructed
by Irene j common tradition satys twelve. A few exfst ; some were destroyed
during the war of the Revolution ; others were swept away by the Bavarian plans
of the town.
• The council of Frankfort blames that of Nicaea for inculcating the worship
of images ; but that council really draws a distinction between the reverence it
inculcates, rtfirjntc^ vpotrKiivrjais, and the devotion it condemns, Xarptla. This
distinction — to which, of course, the people paid no attention — serves the Greek
church as a defence against the accusation of idolatrous practice. For the
opinions of the British clergy on the question, see Spelman, Concilia Magna§
Britannias, i. 73.
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prejudices had not yet settled on the West ; nor had feudal
anarchy confined the ideas and wants of society to the narrow
sphere of provincial interests. The aspect of public opinion
alarmed Pope Hadrian, whose interests required that the
relations of the West and East should not become friendly.
His position, however, rendered him more suspicious of Con-
stantine and Irene, in spite of their orthodoxy, than of
Charlemagne, with all his heterodox ideas. The Frank
monarch, though he differed in ecclesiastical opinions, was
sure to be a political protector. The Pope consequently
laboured to foment the jealousy that reigned between the
Frank and Byzantine governments concerning Italy, where
the commercial relations of the Greeks still counterbalanced
the military influence of the Franks. When writing to
Charlemagne, he accused the Greeks and their Italian
partisans of every crime likely to arouse the hostility of the
Franks. They were reproached, and not unjustly, with
carrying on an extensive trade in slaves, who were purchased
in western Europe, and sold to the Saracens. The Pope knew
well that this commerce was carried on in all the trading
cities of the West, both by Greeks and Latins; for slaves
then constituted the principal article of European export to
Africa, Syria, and Egypt, in payment of the produce of the
East, which was brought from those countries. The Pope
seized and burnt some Greek vessels at Centumcellae (Civita-
Vecchia), because the crews were accused of kidnapping the
people of the neighbourhood. The violent expressions of
Hadrian, in speaking of the Greeks, could not fail to produce
a great effect in western Europe, where the letters of the
popes formed the literary productions most generally read and
studied by all ranks \ His calumnies must have sunk deep
into the public mind, and tended to impress on Western
nations that aversion to the Greeks, which was subsequently
increased by mercantile jealousy and religious strife.
The extinction of the last traces of the supremacy of the
Eastern Empire at Rome was the most gratifying result of
' Hadriani I. Epht. 12,13. * Nefandissimi Neapolitan! et Deo odibiles Graeci ;*
Scfalofiser, a6a. Pope Stephen III. had given au example of national calumny.
He wrote to Charlemagne, * Perfida et foetentissima Langobardorum gens — quae
in numero gentium nequaquam computatur, de cujus natione et leprosorum genus
oriri certum est.* It is a task of difficulty to extract impartial history from the
records of an age when the head of the Christian church used such language.
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78 ICONOCLAST PERIOD,
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their machinations to the popes. On Christmas day, A.D.
800, Chariemagne revived the existence of the Western
Empire, and received the imperial crown from Pope Leo III.
in the church of St. Peter. Hitherto the Frank monarch
had acknowledged a titular supremacy in the Eastern Empire,
and had borne the title of Patrician of the Roman empire, as
a mark of dignity conferred on him by the emperors of Con-
stantinople ; but he now raised himself to an equality with the
emperors of the East, by assuming the title of Emperor of the
West. The assumption of the title of emperor of the Romans
was not an act of idle vanity. Roman usages, Roman pre-
judices, and Roman law still exercised a powerful influence
over the minds of the most numerous body of Charlemagne's
subjects; and by all the clergy and lawyers throughout his
dominions the rights and prerogatives of the Roman emperors
of the West were held to be legally vested in his person by the
fact of his election, such as it was, and his coronation by the
Pope. The political allegiance of the Pope to the emperor,
which was then undisputed, became thus transferred from
the emperor of the East to the emperor of the West, as a
matter of course ; while the papal rights of administration
over the former exarchate of Ravenna, the Pentapolis, and the
dukedom of Rome, acquired, under the protection of the
Franks, the character of a decided sovereignty. Many towns
of Italy at this time acquired a degree of municipal inde-
pendence which made them almost independent republics.
The influence of Roman law in binding society together, the
military weakness of the papal power, and the rapid decline of
the central authority in the empire of the Franks, enabled
these towns to perpetuate their peculiar constitutions and
independent jurisdictions down to the French Revolution ^
A female regency in an absolute government must always
render the conduct of public affairs liable to be directed by-
court intrigues. When Irene wished to gain Charlemagne as
an ally, in order to deprive the Iconoclasts of any hope of
foreign assistance, she had negotiated a treaty of marriage
between her son and Rotrud, the eldest daughter of the Frank
monarch, A.D. 781. But when the question of image-worship
* Niebuhr's History of Rome, from the First Pume War to the Death qf Constantmt^
by L. Schmitz, i. 424 (vol. ii. oi Lectures on the History of Rome),
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CONSTANTINE VI. AND IRENE. 79
was settled, she began to fear that this alliance might become
the means of excluding her from power, and she then broke
off the treaty, and compelled her son to marry a Paphlagonian
lady of the court named Maria, whom the young emperor
soon regarded with aversion. Constantine, however, submitted
quietly to his mother's domination until his twentieth year.
He then b^^n to display dissatisfaction at the state of
tutelage in which he was held, and at his complete seclusion
from pubKc business. A plan was formed by many leading
men in the administration to place him at the head of affairs,
but it was discovered before it was ripe for execution. Irene
on this occasion displayed unseemly violence, in her eagerness
to retain a power she ought immediately to have resigned.
The conspirators were seized, scourged, and banished. When
her son was conducted into her presence, she struck him, and
overwhelmed him with reproaches and insults. The young
emperor was then confined so strictly in the palace that all
communication with his friends was cut off.
This unprincipled conduct of the regent-mother became the
object of general reprobation. The troops of the Armeniac
theme refused to obey her orders, and marched to the capital
to deliver Constantine. On the way they were joined by
other legions, and Irene found herself compelled to release her
son, who immediately hastened to the advancing army. A
total revolution was effected at court. The ministers and
creatures of Irene were removed from office, and some who
had displayed particular animosity against Constantine were
scourged and beheaded ^ Constantine ruled the empire for
about six years (a.D. 790-797). But his education had been
neglected in a disgraceful manner, and his mind was perhaps
naturally fickle. Though he displayed the courage of his
family at the head of his army, his incapacity for business,
and his inconstancy in his friendships, soon lost him the
supix>rt of his most devoted partisans. He lost his popu-
larity by putting out the eyes of his uncle, Nicephorus, and
cutting out the tongues of his four uncles, who were accused
of having taken part in the plots of their brother. He
alienated the attachment of the Armenian troops by putting
out the eyes of their general, Alexis Mouselen, who had been
^ Theoph. 393.
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[Bk.I.Ch.I.$4.
the means of delivering him from confinement. The folly of
this last act was even greater than the ingratitude, for it was
done to gratify the revengeful feelings of his mother. These
acts of folly, cruelty, and ingratitude destroyed his influence,
and induced his sincerest friends to make their peace with
Irene, whom it was evident her son would ultimately allow to
rule the empire.
The unhappy marriage into which Constantine had been
forced by his mother, she at last converted into the cause of
his ruin. The emperor fell in love with Theodota, one of his
mother's maids of honour, and determined to divorce Maria in
order to marry her. Irene, whose ambition induced her to
stoop to the basest intrigues, flattered him in this project,
as it seemed likely to increase her influence and ruin his
reputation. The Empress Maria was induced to retire into
a monastery, and the emperor expected to be able to cele-
brate his marriage with Theodota without difficulty. But the
usage of the Byzantine empire required that the Patriarch
should pronounce the sentence of divorce, and this Tarasios,
who was a devoted partisan and active political agent of Irene,
long refused to do. The imprudence of Constantine, and the
insidious advice of Irene, soon involved the emperor in a dis-
pute with the whole body of monks, who had an overwhelming
influence in society. The Patriarch at last yielded to the
influence of Irene, so far as to allow his catechist to give the
veil to the Empress Maria, whom he pronounced divorced,
and then to permit the celebration of the emperor's marriage
with Theodota by Joseph, one of the principal clergy of the
patriarchal chapter, and abbot of a monastery in the capital ^.
In the Byzantine empire at this time, constant religious
discussions, and pretensions to superior sanctity, had intro-
duced a profound religious spirit into the highest ranks of
society. Numbers of the wealthiest nobles founded monas-
teries, into which they retired. The manners, the extensive
charity, and the pure morality of these abbots, secured them
the love and admiration of the people, and tended to dis-
seminate a hif;her standard of morality than had previously
prevailed in Constantinople. This fact must not be over-
looked in estimating the various causes which led to the
* Theoph. 397.
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MONASTIC INFLUENCE. 8 1
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regeneration of the Eastern Empire under the Iconoclast
emperors. Security of life and property, and all the founda-
tions of national prosperity, are more closely connected with
moral purity than the ruling classes are inclined to allow.
It may not be quite useless, as an illustration of the state
of the Byzantine empire, to remind the reader of the violence,
injustice, and debauchery which prevailed at the courts of the
west of Europe, including that of Charlemagne. While the
Poi)e winked at the disorders in the palace of Charlemagne,
the monks of the East prepared the public mind for the
dethronement of Constantine, because he obtained an illegal
divorce, and formed a second marriage. The corruption of
morals, and the irr^ularities prevalent in the monasteries
of the West, contrast strongly with the condition of the
Eastern monks \
The habit of building monasteries as a place of retreat,
adopted by some from motives of piety, was also adopted
by others as a mode of securing a portion of their wealth
from confiscation, in case of their condemnation for political
crimes, peculiar privileges being reserved in the monasteries
so founded for members of the founder's family 2. At this
time Plato, abbot of the monastery of Sakkoudion, on Mount
Olympus in Bithynia, and his nephew Theodore, who was
a relation of the new Empress Theodota, were the leaders
of a powerful party of monks possessing great influence in
the church. Theodore (who is known by the name Studita,
from havii^ been afterwards appointed abbot of the celebrated
monastery of Studion) had founded a monastery on his own
property, in which he assembled his father, two brothers,
and a young sister, and, emancipating all his household and
^ Mosheim, Institutes of Eeeltsiastieal History (translated by Murdoch), ii. 125,
181 ; Soames' edit. 1845. But not to wrong St. Eligius, see also Arnold, Tntro^
ductory Lecturts on Modem History, 102. Maitland (The Dark Ages, 102) makes
the most of Mosheim's error. The times, however, were not better than Mosheim
represents them.
■ The abuse of fictitious donations to monasteries had become so great an evil
in Western Europe, as to require numerous laws to restrain the practice. The
Lombard law allowed the granters to revoke these donations during their lives,
and they reserved possession on paying a small annual sum as rent to the monas«
tenr. Charlemagne declared all such donations irrevocable in order to check the
cvu. The abuse existed among the Anglo-Saxons. Lingard^s History of England,
i. 517. The Empress Irene founded the monastery of St. Euphrosyne, where her
son Constantine, his divorced wife Maria, and his two daughters were buried;
and also the monastery in Prince's Island, to which she was sent after her de-
thronement, and before her banishment to Lesbos.
VOL. II. G
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[Bk.I.Ch.tJ4-
agricultjural slaves, established them as lay brethren on the
farms. Most of the abbots round Constantinople were men of
family and wealth, as well as learning and piety; but they
repaid the sincere respect with which they were regarded by
the people, by participating in popular prejudices, so that we
cannot be surprised to find them constantly acting the part
of demagogues. Plato separated himself from all spiritual
communion with the Patriarch Tarasios, whom he declared to
have violated the principles of Christianity in permitting the
adulterous marriage of the emperor. His views were warmly
supported by his nephew Theodore, and many monks b^^n
openly to preach both against the Patriarch and the emperor.
Irene now saw that the movement was taking a turn favour-
able to her ambition. She encouraged the monks, and
prepared Tarasios for quitting the party of his sovereign.
Plato and Theodore were dangerous enemies, from their great
reputation and extensive political and ecclesiastical connec-
tions, and into a personal contest with these men Constantine
rashly plunged.
Plato was arrested at his monastery, and placed in confine-
ment under the wardship of the abbot Joseph, who had
celebrated the imperial marriage. Theodore was banished
to Thessalonica, whither he was conveyed by a detachment
of police soldiers. He has left us an account of his journey,
which proves that the orders of the emperor were not carried
into execution with undue severity^. Theodore and his
attendant monks were seized by the imperial officers at a
distance from the monastery, and compelled to commence
their journey on the first horses their escort could procure,
instead of being permitted to send for their ambling mules.
They were hurried forward for three days, resting during the
night at Kathara in Liviana, Leuka, and Phyraion. At the
last place they encountered a melancholy array of monks,
driven from the great monastery at Sakkoudion after the
arrest of Plato ; but with these fellow-sufferers, though ranged
along ^he road, Theodore was not allowed to communicate,
except by bestowing on them his blessing as he rode past.
* Theodori Studitae Opera, 330; Schlosser, 319, Some letters of Theodore
Studita are given by Baronios. I have extracted the account of the journey from
Schlosser {Oeschiehtt der bilderstumundtn Kaiur), for I have not been able to
supply myself with the works of Theodore.
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PERSECUTION OF THEODORE STUDITA, 83
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He was then carried to Paula, from whence he wrote to Plato
that he had seen his sister, with the venerable Sabas, abbot of
the monastery of Studion. They had visited him secretly,
but had been allowed by the guards to pass the evening in
his society. Next night they reached Loupadion, where the
exiles were kindly treated by their host. At Tilin they were
joined by two abbots, Zacharias and Pionios, but they were
not allowed to travel in company. The journey was con-
tinued by Alberiza, Anagegrammenos, Perperina, Parium,
and Horkos, to Lampsacus. On the road, the bishops
expressed the greatest sympathy and eagerness to serve
them ; but the bigoted Theodore declared that his conscience
would not permit him to hold any communication with those
who were so unchristian as to continue in communion with
Tarasios and the emperor.
From Lampsacus the journey was prosecuted by sea. A
pious governor received them at Abydos with great kindness,
and they rested there eight days. At Elaeus there was again
a detention of seven days, and from thence they sailed to
Lemnos, where the bishop treated Theodore with so much
attention that his bigotry was laid asleep. The passage from
Lemnos to Thessalonica was not without danger from the
piratical boats of the Sclavonians who dwelt on the coast of
Thrace, and exercised the trades of robbers and pirates as
well as herdsmen and shepherds. A favourable wind carried
the exiles without accident to Kanastron, from whence they
touched at Pallene before entering the harbour of Thessa-
lonica, which they reached on the 25th March 797. Here
they were received by a guard, and conducted through the
city to the residence of the governor. The people assembled
in crowds to view the pious opponents of their emperor;
while the governor received them with marks of personal
respect, which showed him more anxious to conciliate the
powerful monks than to uphold the dignity of the weak
emperor. He conducted Theodore to the cathedral, that he
might return thanks to God publicly for his safe arrival ; he
then waited on him to the palace of the archbishop, where
he was treated to a bath, and entertained most hospitably.
The exiles were, however, according to the tenor of the
imperial orders, placed in separate places of confinement;
and even Theodore and his brother were not permitted to
G 2
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84 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.54.
dwell together. The day of their triumph was not far distant,
and their banishment does not appear to have subjected them
to much inconvenience. They became confessors at a small
cost.
As soon as Irene thought that her son had rendered him-
self sufficiently unpopular throughout the empire, she formed
her plot for dethroning him. The support of the principal
officers in the palace was secured by liberal promises of
wealth and advancement : a band of conspirators was then
appointed to seize Constantine, but a timely warning enabled
him to escape to Triton on the Propontis. He might easily
have recovered possession of the capital, had he not wasted
two months in idleness and folly. Abandoned at last by
every friend, he was seized by his mother's emissaries and
dragged to Constantinople. After being detained some time
a prisoner in the porphyry apartment in which he was bom,
his eyes were put out on the 19th August 797 \ Constantine
had given his cruel mother public marks of that affection
which he appears really to have felt for her, and to which he
had sacrificed his best friends. He had erected a statue of
bronze to her honour, which long adorned the hippodrome
of Constantinople ^
Irene was now proclaimed sovereign of the empire. She
had for some time been allowed by her careless son to direct
the whole administration, and it was his confidence in her
maternal affection which enabled her to work his ruin. She
of course immediately released all the ecclesiastical opponents
of her son from confinement, and restored them to their
honours and offices. The Patriarch Tarasios was ordered to
make his peace with the monks by excommunicating his
creature, the abbot Joseph; and the closest alliance was
formed between him and his former opponents, Plato and
Theodore, the latter of whom was shortly after rewarded for
his sufferings by being elevated to the dignity of abbot of the
great monastery of Studion.
The Empress Irene reigned five years, during which her
peace was disturbed by the political intrigues of her ministers.
* Gibbon, vi. 87. The authorities which prove that Constantine did not die
of the inhuman treatment he received, but was living when Nicephorus dethroned
his mother, are Contin., in Script, post Theopk, 53 ; I^ Gramm. 20a, edit. Bonn.
' Codinus, Di Orig, Constantinop, 62.
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CHARACTER OF IRENE. 85
Her life offers a more interesting subject for biography than
for history, for it is more striking by its personal details, than
important in its political effects. But the records of private
life in the age in which she lived, and of the state of society
at Athens, where she was educated, are so few, that it would
require to be written by a novelist, who could combine the
strange vicissitudes of her fortunes with a true portraiture of
human feelings, coloured with a train of thought, and enriched
with facts gleaned from contemporary lives and letters of
Greek saints and monks \ Born in a private station, and
in a provincial, though a wealthy and populous city, it must
have required a rare combination of personal beauty, native
grace, and mental superiority, to fill the rank of empress of
the Romans, to which she was suddenly raised, at the court of
a haughty sovereign like her father-in-law Constantine V., not
only Mrithout embarrassment, but even with universal praise.
Again, when vested with the regency, as widow of an Icono-
clast emperor, it required great talent, firmness of purpose,
and conciliation of manner, to overthrow an ecclesiastical
party which had ruled the church for more than half a century.
On the other hand, the deliberate way in which she under-
mined the authority of her son, whose character she had
corrupted by a bad education, and the callousness with which
she gained his confidence in order to deprive him of his
throne, and send him to pass his life as a blind monk in
a secluded cell, proves that the beautiful empress, whose
memory was cherished as an orthodox saint, was endowed
with the heart and feelings of a demon. Strange to say,
when the object of Irene's crimes was reached, she soon felt
all the satiety of gratified ambition. She no longer took the
interest she had previously taken in conducting the public
business of the empire, and abandoned the exercise of her
power to seven eunuchs, whom she selected to perform the
duties of ministers of state. She forgot that her own elevation
to the throne offered a tempting premium to successful
treason. Nicephorus, the grand treasurer, cajoled her favourite
eunuchs to join a plot, by which she was dethroned, and
exiled to a monastery she had founded in Prince's Island ;
* There is a work on the life of Irene, by Abb^ Mignot, Histmrt de VImpiratriet
Irhu, Amst. 1662. It is inexact as history, and worthless as biography.
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86 ICONOCLAST PERIOD,
[Bk.LCh.L§4,
but she was soon after removed to Lesbos, where she died in
a few months, almost forgotten^. Her fate after her death
was as singular as during her life. The unnatural mother was
canonized by the Greeks as an orthodox saint, and at her
native Athens several churches are still pointed out which she
is said to have founded, though not on any certain authority*.
Under the government of Constantine VI. and Irene, the
imperial policy, both in the civil administration and external
relations, followed the course traced out by Leo the Isaurian.
To reduce all the Sclavonian colonists who had formed settle-
ments within the bounds of the empire to complete submis-
sion, was the first object of Irene's r^ency. The extension
of these settlements, after the great plague in 747, alarmed
the government. Extensive districts in Thrace, Macedonia,
and the Peloponnesus, assumed the form of independent com-
munities, and hardly acknowledged allegiance to the central
administration at Constantinople. Irene naturally took more
than ordinary interest in the state of Greece. She kept up
the closest communications with her family at Athens, and
shared the desire of every Greek to repress the presumption of
the Sclavonians, and restore the ascendancy of the Greek
population in the rural districts. In the year 783 she sent
Staurakios at the head of a well-appointed army to Thessa-
lonica, to reduce the Sclavonian tribes in Macedonia to direct
dependence, and enforce the r^ular payment of tribute^.
From Thessalonica, Staurakios marched through Macedonia
and Greece to the Peloponnesus, punishing the Sclavonians
for the disorders they had committed, and carrying off a
number of their able-bodied men to serve as soldiers or to be
sold as slaves. In the following year Irene led the young
Emperor Constantine to visit the Sclavonian settlements in
the vicinity of Thessalonica, which had been reduced to
absolute submission. Berrhoea, like several Greek cities, had
fallen into ruins ; it was now rebuilt, and received the name
of Irenopolis. Strong garrisons were placed in Philippopolis
* Irene must have felt that there was some justice in the saying by which the
Greeks characterized the hopeless demoralization of her favourites : • If you have
an eunuch, kill him ; if you haven't one, buy one, and kill him.'
* It is to St Irene the martyr, and not to the imperial saint, that the present
cathedral of Athens is dedicated. The festival of the empress saint is on the
7th August. Menologittm, iii. 195.
^ Staurakios was one of Irene's favourite eunuchs. Theoph. 384.
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POLICY OF THE REIGN OF IRENE. 87
iuD. 775-8oa.]
and Anchialos, to cut off all communication between the
Sclavonians in the empire, and their countrymen under the
Bulgarian government. The Sclavonians in Thrace and Mace-
donia, though unable to maintain their provincial independ-
ence, still took advantage of their position, when removed
from the eye of the local administration, to form bands of
robbers and pirates, which rendered the communications with
Constantinople and Thessalonica at times insecure both by
land and sea ^.
After Irene had dethroned her son, the Sclavonian popula-
tion gave proofs of dangerous activity. A conspiracy was
formed to place one of the sons of Constantine V. on the
throne. Irene had banished her brothers-in-law to Athens,
where they were sure of being carefully watched by her rela-
tions, who were strongly interested in supporting her cause.
The project of the partisans of the exiled princes to seize
Constantinople was discovered, and it was found that the
chief reliance of the Isaurian party in Greece was placed in the
assistance they expected to derive from the Sclavonian popu-
lation. The chief of Velzetia was to have carried off the sons
of Constantine V. from Athens, when the plan was discovered
and frustrated by the vigilance of Irene's friends ^. The four
unfortunate princes, who had already lost their tongues, were
now deprived of sight, and exiled with their brother Nice-
phorus to Panormus, where they were again made the tools of
a conspiracy in the reign of Michael I.
The war with the Saracens was carried on with varied
success during the reigns of Leo IV., Constantine VI., and
Irene. The military talents of Leo III. and Constantine V.
had formed an army that resisted the forces of the caliphs
under the powerful government of Mansur; and even after
the veterans had been disbanded by Irene, the celebrated
Haroun Al Rashid was unable to make any permanent
conquests, though the empire was engaged in war with the
Saracens, the Bulgarians, and the troops of Charlemagne at
the same time.
* Stt the danger to which Theodore Studita was exposed, at p. 83.
* Theoph. 400. It is difficult to fix the position of Velzetia. The geographical
nomenclature of the Sclavonians gives us the same repetition of the same namw.
in widely-distant districts, that we find in our own colonies. Theophanes (370)
mentions Verzclia as a frontier district of Bulgaria This passage is remarkable
for containing the earliest mention of the Russians in Byzantine history.
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88 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.I.$4,
In the year 781^, Haroun was sent by his father, the Caliph
Mahdy, to invade the empire, at the head of one hundred
thousand men, attended by Rabia and Jahja the Barmecide
The object of the Mohammedan prince was, however, rather
directed to pillaging the country, and carrying off prisoners to
supply the slave-markets of his father's dominions, than to
effect permanent conquests. The absence of a considerable
part of the Byzantine army, which was engaged in Sicily
suppressing the rebellion of Elpidios, enabled Haroun to
march through all Asia Minor to the shores of the Bosphonis,
and from the hill above Scutari to gaze on Constantinople,
which must then have presented a more imposing aspect than
Bagdad. Irene was compelled to purchase peace, or rather to
conclude a truce for three years, by paying an annual tribute
of seventy thousand pieces of gold, and stipulating to allow
the Saracen army to retire unmolested with all its plunder ;
for Haroun and his generals found that their advance had
involved them in many difficulties, of which an active enemy-
might have taken advantage. Haroun Al Rashid is said to
have commanded in person against the Byzantine empire in
eight campaigns. Experience taught him to respect the
valour and discipline of the Christian armies, whenever able
officers enjoyed the confidence of the court at Constantinople ;
and when he ascended the throne, he deemed it necessary to
form a permanent army along the Mesopotamian frontier,
to strengthen the fortifications of the towns with additiorial
works, and add to their means of defence by planting in them
new colonies of Mohammedan inhabitants \ During the time
Constantine VI. ruled the empire, he appeared several times
at the head of the Byzantine armies, and his fickle character
did not prevent his displaying firmness in the field. His
popularity with the soldiers was viewed with jealousy by his
mother, who laboured to retard his movements, and prevent
him from obtaining any decided success. The Saracens
acknowledged that the Greeks were their superiors in naval
affairs ; but in the year 792 they defeated the Byzantine fleet
in the gulf of Attalia with great loss. The admiral, Theo-
philos, was taken prisoner, and solicited by the caliph to abjure
Christianity and enter his service. The admiral refused to
* Weil, Guchichte dmr Ckalifm, ii. 155.
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SARACEN WAR, 89
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forsake his religion or serve against his country, and Haroun
Al Rashid was mean enough to order him to be put to
death.
When the Saracens heard that Constantine had been
dethroned, and the empire was again ruled by a woman
whom they had already compelled to pay tribute, they
renewed their invasions, and plundered Asia Minor up to
the walls of Ephesus. Irene, whose ministers were occupied
with court intrigues, took no measures to resist the enemy,
and was once more obliged to pay tribute to the caliph^.
The annual incursions of the Saracens into the Christian
territory were made principally for the purpose of carrying
away slaves; and great numbers of Christians were sold
throughout the caliph's dominions into hopeless slavery.
Haroun therefore took the field in his wars with the Byzantine
empire more as a slave-merchant than a conqueror. But
this very circumstance, which made war a commercial specu-
lation, introduced humanity into the hostile operations of
the Christians and Mohammedans : the lower classes were
spared, as they were immediately sold for the price they
would bring in the first slave-market; while prisoners of
the better class were retained, in order to draw from them
a higher ransom than their value as slaves, or to exchange
them for men of equal rank who had fallen into the hands
of the enemy. This circumstance had brought about regular
exchanges of prisoners as early as the reign of Constantine
v., A.D. 769 ^ In the year 797, a new clause was inserted
in a treaty for the exchange of prisoners, binding the con-
tracting parties to release all supernumerary captives, on
the payment of a fixed sum for each individual ^ This
arrangement enabled the Christians, who were generally the
greatest sufferers, to save their friends from death or perpetual
slavery, but it added to the inducements of the Saracens
to invade the empire. The Byzantine, or, as they were
• Theoplianes gives the Byzantine account of the Saracen war, which has
been compared with the Arabian authorities by Weil, Geschichte der Chalifen,
ii. 155-
• Theoph. 374.
• Three thousand seven hundred prisoners were exchanged, exclusive of the
additional individuals ransomed by the Christians. A similar treaty was con-
cluded between Haroun and Nicephorus in 805. NoHcts ei Exiraits de$ MSS*
viii. 193.
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[Bk.I.Cb.I.§4,
still called, the Roman armies, were placed at a disadvantage
in this species of warfare. Their discipline was adapted to
defensive military operations, or to meet the enemy on the
field of battle, but not to act with rapidity in plundering
and carrying off slaves ; while the state of society in Christian
countries rendered the demand for slaves less constant than
in countries where polygamy prevailed, and women were
excluded from many of the duties of domestic service.
The war on the Bulgarian frontier was carried on simul-
taneously with that against the Mohammedans. In the year
788, a Bulgarian army surprised the general of Thrace, who
had encamped carelessly on the banks of the Strymon, and
destroyed him, with the greater part of his troops. In 791,
Copstantine VI. took the field in person against Cardam,
king of the Bulgarians, but the campaign was without any
result: in the following year, however, the emperor was
defeated in a pitched battle, in which several of the ablest
generals of the Roman armies were slain. Yet, in 796,
Constantine again led his troops against the Bulgarians :
though victorious, he obtained no success sufficient to com-
pensate his former defeat. The effects of the military-
organization of the frontier by Constantine V. are visible
in the superiority which the Byzantine armies assumed, even
after the loss of a battle, and the confidence v^rith which
they carried the war into the Bulgarian territory ^.
The Byzantine empire was at this period the country in
which there reigned a higher degree of order, and a ,more
regular administration of justice, than in any other. This
is shown by the extensive emigi^ition of Armenian Christians
which took place in the year 787. The Caliph Haroun
Al Rashid, whose reputation among the Mohammedans has
arisen rather from his orthodoxy than his virtues, persecuted
his Christian subjects with gp-eat cruelty, and at last his
oppression induced twelve thousand Armenians to quit their
native country, and settle in the Byzantine empire ^ Some
years later, in the reign of Michael III. the drunkard, ortho-
doxy became the great feature in the Byzantine administration ;
* Theoph. 301-394. Constantine VI., and his grandfather. Constantine V.. are
said to have oeen the only emperors before John I. (Zimiskes) who defeated
the Bulgarians in their own country. Leo Diaconus, 104, edit. Bonn.
* Chamich, History of Armema (Eng. Trans.), ii. 393.
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and, unfortunately, Christian orthodoxy strongly resembled
Mohammedanism in the spirit of persecution. The Paulicians
were then persecuted by the emperors, as the Armenians
had previously been by the caliphs, and fled for toleration
to the Mohammedans.
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CHAPTER II.
The Reigns of Nicephorus I., Michael L, and Leo V.
THE Armenian. — a.d. 8oa-8iio.
Sect. 1.— Nicephorus I. — 8oa-8ii.
His femily and character. — Rebellion of Bardanes. — Tolerant ecclesiastical policy.
—Oppressive fiscal administration. — Relations with Charlemagne. — Saracen
war. — Defeat of Sclavonians at Patrae. — Bulgarian war. — Death of Nice-
phorus.
Nicephorus held the office of grand logothetes, or treasurer,
when he dethroned Irene. He was bom at Seleucla, in
Pisidia, of a family which claimed descent from the Arabian
kings. His ancestor Djaballah, the Christian monarch of
Ghassan in the time of Heraclius, abjured the allegiance of
the Roman empire, and embraced the Mohammedan religion.
He carried among the stern and independent Moslems the
monarchical pride and arrogance of a vassal court. As he
was performing the religious rites of the pilgrimage in the
mosque at Mecca, an Arab accidentally trode on his cloak ;
Djaballah, enraged that a king should be treated with so
little respect, struck the careless Arab in the face, and knocked
out some of his teeth. The justice of the Caliph Omar
knew no distinction of persons, and the king of Ghassan
was ordered to make satisfactory reparation to the injured
Arab, or submit to the law of retaliation. The monarch's
pride was so deeply wounded by this sentence that he
fled to Constantinople, and renounced the Mohammedan
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NICEPHORUS I. 93
religion \ From this king the Arabs, who paid the most
minute attention to genealogy, allow that Nicephorus was
lineally descended ^.
The leading features of the reign of Nicephorus were
political order and fiscal oppression. His character was said
to be veiled in impenetrable hypocrisy ; yet anecdotes are
recounted which indicate that he made no secret of his avarice
and the other vices attributed to him. His orthodoxy was
certainly suspicious, but, on the whole, he appears to have
been an able and humane prince. He has certainly obtained
a worse reputation in history than many emperors who have
been guilty of greater crimes. Many anecdotes are recounted
concerning his rapacity.
As soon as he received the imperial crown, he bethought
himself of the treasures Irene had concealed, and resolved
to gain possession of them. Byzantine historians imagine
that these treasures formed part of the immense sums Leo
III. and Constantine V. were supposed to have accumulated.
The abundance and low price of provisions which had pre-
vailed, particularly in the reign of Constantine V., was
ascribed to the rarity of specie caused by the lai^e sums
of money which these emperors withdrew from circulation.
Irene was said to know where all this wealth was concealed ;
and though her administration had been marked by lavish
expenditure and a diminution of the taxes, still she was believed
to possess immense sums. If we believe the story of the
chronicles, Nicephorus presented himself to Irene in a private
garb, and assured her that he had only assumed the imperial
crown to serve her and save her life. By flattery mingled
with intimidation, he obtained possession of her treasures,
and then, in violation of his promises, banished her to Lesbos.
The dethroned Constantine had been left by his mother
in possession of great wealth. Nicephorus is accused of
ingratiating himself into the confidence of the blind prince,
gaining possession of these treasures, and then neglecting
him. Loud complaints were made s^ainst the extortion of the
> Abnlpharagius, Chron, Syr, 139; Ockley. History of the Saracens, i. 150.
Bchhom {De AndquUt, Hist, Arab, Monumentis, 171) gives an account of the
fpm» event from Il» Kathaiba. .
» Wakedy, CotiquSte de t^gypu, public par Hamaker, 66 ; Le Beau, Htstoire du
Bat-Empire, xiv. 393, noU 1, edit. Saint-Martin.
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[Bk.I.Ch,II.5i.
tax-gatherers in the reigns of Constantine VI. and Irene, and
Nicephorus established a court of review to revise the accounts
of every public functionary. But his enemies accused him of
converting this court into a means of confiscating the property
of the guilty, instead of enabling the sufferers to recover their
losses.
The accession of Nicephorus was an event unexpected both
by the people and the army; and the success of a man whose
name was previously almost unknown beyond the circle of the
administration, held out a hope to every man of influence that
an emperor, who owed his elevation to a conspiracy of eunuchs
and a court intrigqe, might easily be driven from the throne.
Bardanes, whom Nicephorus appointed general of the troops
of five Asiatic themes to march against the Saracens, instead
of leading this army against Haroun Al Rashid, proclaimed
himself emperor. He was supported by Thomas the Sclavo-
nian, as well as by Leo the Armenian and Michael the
Amorian, who both subsequently mounted the throne. The
crisis was one of extreme difficulty, but Nicephorus soon
convinced the world that he was worthy of the throne. The
rebel troops were discouraged by his preparations, and ren-
dered ashamed of their conduct by his reproaches. Leo and
Michael were gained over by a promise of promotion ; and
Bardanes, seeing his army rapidly dispersing, negotiated for
his own pardon. He was allowed to retire to a monastery
he had founded in the island of Prote, but his estates were
confiscated. Shortly after, while Bardanes was living in
seclusion as an humble monk, a band of Lycaonian brigands
crossed over from the Asiatic coast and put out his tyts. As
the perpetrators of this atrocity were evidently moved by
personal vengeance, suspicion fell so strongly on the emperor,
that he deemed it necessary to take a solemn oath in public
that he had no knowledge of the crime, and never entertained
a thought of violating the safe-conduct he had given to
Bardanes. This safe-conduct, it must be observed, had re-
ceived the ratification of the Patriarch and the senate, Bar-
danes himself did not appear to suspect the emperor; he
showed the greatest resignation and piety ; gave up the use
of wheaten bread, wine, oil, and fish, living entirely on barley
cakes, which he baked in the embers. In summer he wore
a single leather garment, and in winter a mantle of hair-
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cloth. In this way he lived contentedly, and died during the
reign of Leo the Armenian.
The civil transactions of the reign of Nicephorus present
some interesting facts. Though a brave soldier, he was
essentially a statesman, and his conviction that the finance
department was the peculiar business of the sovereign, and
the key of public affairs, can be traced in many significant
events. He eagerly pursued the centralizing policy of his
Iconoclast predecessors, and strove to render the civil power
supreme over the clergy and the Church. He forbade the
Patriarch to hold any communications with the Pope, whom
he considered as the Patriarch of Charlemagne; and this
prudent measure has caused much of the virulence with which
his memory has been attacked by ecclesiastical and orthodox
historians^. The Patriarch Tarasios had shown himself no
enemy to the supremacy of the emperor, and he was highly
esteemed by Nicephorus as one of the heads of the party,
both in the church and state, which the empero^was anxious
to conciliate. When Tarasios died, A.D. 806, Nicephorus
made a solemn display of his grief. Th^JjodjiV-clad-in-the--.
patri archal robes ,,xrowned with the mitre, and seated on the
epi scopa Mfchrone, according^olflftc usage of the East, was *
transported f<5r a monastery founHeS'Tiy" Hie "deceased Patri-
arch on the shores of the Bosphorus, where the funeral was
performed with great pomp, the emperor assisting, embracing
the body, and covering it with his purple robe ^.
Nicephorus succeeded in finding an able and popular
prelate, disposed to support his secular views, worthy to suc-
ceed Tarasios. This was the historian Nicephoros. He had
already retired from public life, and was residing in a monas-
tery he had founded, though he had not yet taken monastic
vows. On his election, he entered the clergy, and took the
monastic habit. This last step was rendered necessary by the
usage of the Greek church, which now only admitted monks
to the episcopal dignity. To give the ceremony additional
splendour, Staurakios, the son of the Emperor Nicephorus,
who had received the imperial crown from his father, was
deputed to be present at the tonsure.
The Patriarch Nicephoros was no sooner installed than the
Theoph. 419. > Theoph. 407.
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emperor began to execute his measures for establishing the
supremacy of the civil power. Tarasios, after sanctioning
the divorce of Constantine VI., and allowing the celebration
of his second marris^e, had yielded to the influence of Irene
and the monks, and declared both acts illegal. The Emperor
Nicephorus considered this a dangerous precedent, and re-
solved to obtain an affirmation of the validity of the second
marriage. The new Patriarch assembled a synod, in which
the marriage was declared valid, and the abbot Joseph, who
had celebrated it, was absolved from all ecclesiastical censure.
The monastic party, enraged at the emperor seeking emanci-
pation from their authority, broke out into a furious opposi-
tion. Theodore Studita, their leader, calls this synod an
assembly of adulterers and heretics, and reproached the
Patriarch with sacrificing the interests of religion \ But,
Nicephorus having succeeded in bringing about this explosion
of monastic ire on a question in which he had no personal
interest, the people, who now r^arded the unfortunate Con-
stantine VI. as hardly used on the subject of his marriage
with Theodota, could not be persuaded to take any part in
the dispute. Theodore's violence was also supposed to arise
from his disappointment at not being elected Patriarch.
Public opinion became so favourable to the emperor's eccle-
siastical views, that a synod assembled in 809 declared the
Patriarch and bishops to possess the power of granting dispen-
sations from rules of ecclesiastical law, and that the emperor
was not bound by legislative provisions enacted for subjects.
Nicephorus considered the time had now come for compelling
the monks to obey his authority. He ordered Theodore
Studita and Plato to take part in the ecclesiastical ceremonies
with the Patriarch ; and when these refractory abbots refused,
he banished them to Prince's Island, and then deposed them.
Had the monks now opposed the emperor on the reasonable
ground that he was violating the principles on which the
security of society depended, by setting up his individual will
against the systematic rules of justice, the maxims of Roman
law, the established usages of the empire, and the eternal
rules of equity, they would have found a response in the
hearts of the people. Such doctrines might have led to some
^ In a letter to the Pope. Baronii AnnaUs EccUs, ix. p. 646, a.d. 806.
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political reform in the government, and to the establishment
of some constitutional check on the exercise of arbitrary
power ; and the exclamation of Theodore, in one of his letters
to the Pope, 'Where now is the gospel for kings?' might then
have revived the spirit of liberty among the Greeks.
At this time there existed a party which openly advocated
the right of every man to the free exercise of his own religious
opinions in private, and ui^ed the policy of the government
abstaining from every attempt to enforce unity. Some of
this party probably indulged in as liberal speculations con-
cerning the political rights of meo, but such opinions were
generally considered incompatible with social order ^ The
emperor, however, favoured the tolerant party, and gave its
members a predominant influence in his cabinet. Greatly to
the dissatisfaction of the Greek party, he refused to persecute
the Paulicians, who formed a considerable community in the
eastern provinces of Asia Minor ; and he tolerated the Athin-
gans in Pisidia and Lycaonia, allowing them to exercise their
religion in peace, as long as they violated none of the laws of
the empire 2.
The financial administration of Nicephorus is justly accused
of severity, and even of rapacity. He affords a good personi-
fication of the fiscal genius of the Roman empire, as described
by the Emperor Justin II., upwards of three centuries earlier ^
His thoughts were chiefly of tribute and taxes; and, un-
fortunately for his subjects, his intimate acquaintance with
financial affairs enabled him in many cases to extort a great
increase of revenue, without appearing to impose on them any
new burdens. But though he is justly accused of oppression,
he does not merit the reproach of avarice often urged against
him. When he considered expenditure necessary for the
good of the empire, he was liberal of the public money. He
spared no expense to keep up numerous armies, and it was
not from ill-judged economy, but from want of military
talents, that his campaigns were unsuccessful.
* Compare Theoph. 413 and 419.
• Theoph. 413. For the Paulicians, see Gibbon, vii. 47; Mosheim, ii. 235;
Neander, lii. 244.
» *Die noctuque pro utilitate reipublicae subtiliter cogitantes ilia properamus
renovare, quanta in lods opportunis sunt neoessaria et maxime pro tributis atque
reditibns, sine quibus impossibile est aliquid agere prospemm/ Cfmat. Juftiniani
ymstmi et Tib. xxvii. 3; Dt JUiis Uherarum/m Corp, Jwr. Civ. ii. 51a, 4to edit
ster. ; iii. 237, edit Elzevir. 1663.
V^^ "• " rooal(>
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Nicephorus restored the duties levied at the entrance of the
Hellespont and the Bosphorus, which had been remitted by
Irene to purchase popularity after her cruelty to her sonK
He ordered all the provinces to furnish a stated number of
able-bodied recruits for the army, drawn from among, the
poor ; and obliged each district to pay the sum of eighteen
nomismata a-head for their equipment — enforcing the old
Roman principle of mutual responsibility for the payment
of taxes, in case the recruits should possess property liable
to taxation^. One-twelfth was likewise added to the duty
on public documents. An additional tax of two nomismata
was imposed on all domestic slaves purchased beyond the
Hellespont. The inhabitants of Asia Minor engaged in com-
merce were compelled to purchase a certain quantity of
landed property belonging to the fisc at a fixed valuation : and,
what tended to blacken the emperor's reputation more than
anything else, he extended the hearth-tax to the property of
the church, to monasteries, and charitable institutions, which
had hitherto been exempted from the burden; and he en-
forced the payment of arrears from the commencement of his
reign. The innumerable private monasteries, which it was
the fashion to multiply, withdrew so much property from
taxation that this measure was absolutely necessary to pre-
vent frauds on the fisc; but though necessary, it was un-
popular. Nicephorus, moreover, permitted the sale of gold
and silver plate dedicated as holy offerings by private super-
stition ; and, like many modem princes, he quartered troops
in monasteries. It is also made an accusation against his
government, that he furnished the merchants at Constantinople
engaged in foreign trade with the sum of twelve pounds'
weight of gold, for which they were compelled to pay twenty
per cent, interest. It is diflScult, from the statements of the
Byzantine writers concerning these legislative acts, to form
a precise idea of the emperor's object in some cases, or the
effects of the law in others. His enemies do not hesitate to
enumerate among his crimes the exertions he made to establish
* Theoph. 401.
' Eighteen nomismata is nearly £10. We see from this that the individiial
in the ranks was more expensive in ancient than in modem times. He acted
also a more important part. Artillery was then inferior, and less expensiye. We
must not forget that, during the period embraced in this volume, ue Byzantine
army was the finest in the world.
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military colonies in the waste districts on the Bulgarian
frontier, secured by the line of fortresses constructed by
Constantine V. His object was to cut off effectually all
communication between the unruly Sclavonians in Thrace
and the population to the north. There can be no doubt
of his enforcing every claim of the government with rigour.
He ordered a strict census of all agriculturists who were not
natives to be made throughout the provinces, and the land
they cultivated was declared to belong to the imperial domain.
He then converted these cultivators into slaves of the fisc, by
the application of an old law, which declared that all who had
cultivated the same land for the space of thirty years con-
secutively, were restricted to the condition of coloni, or serfs
attached to the soil ^.
The conspiracies which were formed against Nicephorus
cannot be admitted as evidence of his unpopularity, for the
best of the Byzantine monarchs were as often disturbed by
secret plots as the worst. The elective title to the empire
rendered the prize to successful ambition one which over-
powered the respect due to their country's laws in the breasts
of the courtiers of Constantinople. It is only from popular
insurrections that we can judge of the sovereign's unpopularity.
The principles of humanity that rendered Nicephorus averse
to religious persecution, caused him to treat conspirators with
much less cruelty than most Byzantine emperors. Perhaps
the historians hostile to his government have deceived posterity,
giving considerable importance to insignificant plots, as we
see modem diplomatists continually deceiving their courts
by magnifying trifling expressions of dissatisfaction into
dangerous presages of widespread discontent. In the year
808, however, a conspiracy was really formed to place
Arsaber — a patrician, who held the office of quaestor, or
minister of legislation— on the throne. Though Arsaber
was of an Armenian family, many persons of rank were
Icc^ued with him ; yet Nicephorus only confiscated his
estates, and compelled him to embrace the monastic life*.
* Theoph- 41 1 > 413, 414; Cedrenus, ii. 480; Cod, Justin.^ De Agriedis et Cen-
tids, 3d. 47. 18.
* Aisaber and Bardanes were both of Armenian descent. Chamich (or Tcham-
tchian) says, * In this age, three Armenians were elected at different periods to
the imperial throne of the Greeks. Two of them, Vardan and Arshavir, only
held that high post for a few days. The other, Lcvond (Leo V.), an Arzunian,
H 2 J
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An attempt was made to assassinate the emperor by a man
who rushed into the palace, seized the sword of one of the
guards of the imperial chamber, and severely wounded many
persons before he was secured. The criminal was a monk,
who was put to the torture, according to the cruel practice of
the time ; but Nicephorus, on learning that he was a maniac,
ordered him to be placed in a lunatic asylum. Indeed, though
historians accuse Nicephorus of inhumanity, the punishment
of death, in cases of treason, was never carried into effect
during his reign.
The relations of Nicephorus with Charlemagfne were for
a short time amicable. A treaty was concluded at Aix-la-
Chapelle, in 803, regulating the frontiers of the two empires.
In this treaty, the supremacy of the Eastern Empire over
Venice, Istria, the maritime parts of Dalmatia, and the south
of Italy, was acknowledged; while the authority of the
Western Empire in Rome, the exarchate of Ravenna, and
the Pentapolis, was recognised by Nicephorus ^ The com-
merce of Venice with the East was already so important,
and the Byzantine administration afforded so many guarantees
for the security of property, that the Venetians, in spite of
the menaces of Charlemagne, remained firm in their allegiance
to Nicephorus. Istria, on the other hand, placed itself sub-
sequently under the protection of the Frank emperor, and
paid him a tribute of 354 marks. Pepin, king of Italy, was
also charged by his father to render the Venetians, and the
allies of the Byzantine empire in the north of Italy, tributary
to the Franks ; but Nicephorus sent a fleet into the Adriatic,
and effectually protected his friends. A people, called
Orobiatae, who maintained themselves as an independent
community in the Apennines, pretending to preserve their
allegiance to the emperor of Constantinople, plundered Popu-
Ionium in Tuscany. They afford us proof how much easier
Charlemagne found it to extend his conquests than to preserve
order*. Venice, it is true, found itself in the end compelled
to purchase peace with the Frank empire, by the payment
rdgned seven years. Not long after, Prince Manuel, of the tribe of the Mami-
conians, greatly distinguished himself at the court of the emperor (Theophilus)
by his undaunted valour and skill in war.' History of Armenia (translated by
Avdall). vol. i. 399.
* A. Dandolo ; in Muratori, Script, Rer, ltd, xii. 151.
' Eginhard, Ann, Franc, aj>. 809.
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of an annual tribute of thirty-six pounds of gold, in order
to secure its commercial relations from interruption; and
it was not released from this tribute until the time of Otho
the Great ^. It was during the reign of Nicephorus that the
site of the present city of Venice became the seat of the
Venetian government, Rivalto (Rialto) becoming the residence
of the duke and the principal inhabitants, who retired from
the continent to escape the attacks of Pepin. Heraclea had
previously been the capital of the Venetian municipality.
In 8io, peace was again concluded between Nicephorus and
Charlemagne, without making any change in the frontier of
the two empires.
The power of the caliphate was never more actively em-
ployed than under Haroun Al Rashid, but the reputation of
that prince was by no means so great among his contempo-
raries as it became in after times. Nicephorus was no sooner
seated on the throne, than he refused to pay the caliph the
tribute imposed on Irene. The Arabian historians pretend
that his refusal was communicated to Haroun in an insolent
letter 2. To resist the attacks of the Saracens, which he well
knew would follow his refusal, he collected a powerful army in
wAsia Minor ; but this army broke out into rebellion, and, as
has been already mentioned, proclaimed Bardanes emperor.
The caliph, availing himself of the defenceless state of the
empire, laid waste Asia Minor; and when the rebellion of
Bardanes was extinguished, Nicephorus, afraid to trust any
veteran general with the command of a large army, took the
command himself, and was defeated in a great battle at
Krasos in Phrygian After this victory the Saracens laid
waste the country in every direction, until a rebellion in
Chorasan compelled Haroun to withdraw his best troops
from the Byzantine frontier, and gave Nicephorus time to
re-assemble a new army. As soon as the affairs in the East
were tranquillized, the caliph again invaded the Byzantine
empire. Haroun fixed his headquarters at Tyana, where he
built a mosque, to mark that he annexed that city to the Mo-
hammedan empire. One division of his army, sixty thousand
' Constant. Porphyr. D« Adm, Imp, c. 28, a.d. 962.
• Wdl {Gssckichu der Chali/en, ii. 159) gives the letter of the emperor and the
answer of the caliph. I cannot suppose they are authentic.
» Theoph. 406.
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strong, took and destroyed Ancyra. Heraclea on Mount
Taurus was also captured, and sixteen thousand prisoners
were carried off in a single campaign \ A.D. 806. Nicephorus,
unable to arrest these ravages, endeavoured to obtain peace ;
and in spite of the religious bigotry which is supposed to have
envenomed the hostilities of Haroun, the imperial embassy
consisted of the bishop of Synnada, the abbot of Gulaias, and
the oeconomos of Amastris. As winter was approaching, and
the Saracens were averse to remain longer beyond Mount
Taurus, the three ecclesiastical ambassadors succeeded in
arranging a treaty ; but Nicephorus was compelled to submit
to severe and degrading conditions. He engaged not to
rebuild the frontier fortifications which had been destroyed
by the caliph's armies, and he consented to pay a tribute of
thirty thousand pieces of gold annually, adding three addi-
tional pieces for himself, and three for his son and colleague
Staurakios, which we must suppose to have been medallions
of superior size, since they were offered as a direct proof that
the emperor of the Romans paid a personal tribute to the
caliph ^.
Nicephorus seems to have been sadly deficient in feelings
of honour, for, the moment he conceived he could evade the
stipulations of the treaty without danger, he commenced
repairing the ruined fortifications. His subjects suffered for
his conduct. The caliph again sent troops to invade the
empire ; Cyprus and Rhodes were ravaged ; the Bishop of
Cyprus was compelled to pay one thousand dinars as his
ransom ; and many Christians were carried away from Asia
Minor, and settled in Syria.
The death of Haroun, in 809, delivered the Christians from
a barbarous enemy, who ruined their country like a brigand,
without endeavouring to subdue it like a conqueror. Haroun's
personal valour, his charity, his liberality to men of letters,
and his religious zeal, have secured him interested panegyrics,
which have drowned the voice of justice. The hero of the
' Gibbon (vi. 406) adopts the opinion that the Pontic Heraclea was taken in
an earlier campaign ; but Saint-Martin, in his notes to Le Beau (xii. 426), points
out that this is not probable. Theoph. 407 ; Schlosser, 350 ; Weil, ii. 160.
* If these tribute-pieces were medallions like the celebrated medal of Jus-
tinian I., which was stolen from the National Library at Paris, the sight of one
would gladden the heart of a numismatist. See Pinder and Friedlander, Z)w
Mv.nj£n Justtnianst plate ii.
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Arabian Tales and the ally of Charlemagne is vaunted as one
of the greatest princes who ever occupied a throne. The dis-
graceful murder of the Barmecides, and many other acts of
injustice and cruelty, gave him a very different character in
history. His plundering incursions into the Byzantine empire
might have been glorious proofs of courage in some petty
Syrian chieftain, but they degrade the ruler of the richest and
most extensive empire on the earth into a mere slave-dealer ^.
The Saracens continued their incursions, and in the year
811, Leo the Armenian, then lieutenant-governor of the
Armeniac theme, left a sum of thirteen hundred pounds'
weight of silver, which had been collected as taxes, at
Euchaites, without a sufficient guard. A band of Saracens
carried off this money; and for his negligence Leo was
ordered to Constantinople, where the future emperor was
scourged, and deprived of his command ^.
The Sclavonian colonies in Greece were now so powerful
that they formed the project of rendering themselves masters
of the Peloponnesus, and expelling the Greek population.
The Byzantine expedition, in the early part of the regency
of Irene, had only subjected these intruders to tribute, without
diminishing their numbers or breaking their power ^. The
troubled aspect of public affairs, after Nicephorus seized the
throne, induced them to consider the moment favourable for
gaining their independence. They assembled a numerous
force under arms, and selected Patrae as their first object of
attack. The possession of a commercial port was necessary
to their success, in order to enable them to supply their wants
from abroad, and obtain a public revenue by the duties on the
produce they exported. Patrae was then the most flourishing
city on the west coast of Greece, and its possession would
have enabled the Sclavonians to establish direct communica-
tions with, and draw assistance from, the kindred race estab-
lished on the shores of the Adriatic, and from the Saracen
pirates, among whose followers the Saclavi, or Sclavonian
' The story of the three apples in the Arabian Nights gives a correct idea of
the violence and injustice of the celebrated caliph, whose hasty temper was well
known. For the causes of Haroun's injustice to the Barmecides, see Weu,
Gesckieh/e der Chcdifen, ii. 137.
» Theoph. 414; Contin., m Script, posi TheopK 7; Genesius, 6.
» Theoph. 385.
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captives and ren^ades, made a considerable figure*. The
property of the Greeks beyond the protection of the walled
towns was plundered, to supply the army destined to beside
Patrae with provisions; and a communication was opened
with a Saracen squadron of African pirates which blockaded
the gulf ^. Patrae was closely invested, until want began to
threaten the inhabitants with death, and compelled them to
think of surrender (a.d. 807).
The Byzantine government had no regular troops nearer
than Corinth, which is three days' march from Patrae. But
the governor of the province who resided there was unable
immediately to detach a force sufficient to attack the
besieging army. In the mean time, as the inhabitants were
anxiously waiting for relief, one of their scouts, stationed to
announce the approach of succours from Corinth, accidentally
gave the signal agreed upon. The enthusiasm of the Greeks
was excited to the highest pitch by the hopes of speedy
deliverance, and, eager for revenge on their enemies, they
threw open the city gates and made a vigorous attack on the
besi^ers, whom they drove from their position with consider-
able loss.
The Byzantine general arrived three days after this victory.
His jealousy of the military success of the armed citizens
induced him to give currency to the popular accounts, which
he found the superstition of the people had already circulated,
that St. Andrew, the Patron of Patrae, had shown himself on
the field of battle. The devastations committed by the
Sclavonians, the victory of the Greeks, and the miraculous
appearance of the apostle at the head of the besieged, were
all announced to the Emperor Nicephorus, whose political
views rendered him more willing to reward the church for
St. Andrew's assistance, than to allow his subjects to perceive
that their own valour was sufficient to defend their property :
he feared they might discover that a well-constituted muni-
cipal government would always be able to protect them, while
a distant central authority was often incapable of sending
them efficient aid and generally indifferent to their severest
sufferings. Nicephorus was too experienced a statesman,
with the examples of Venice and Cherson before his eyes, not
* Reinaud, Invasiom des Sarrazins en Franct^ 237.
' Constant. Porphyr. De Adm. Imp. c. 49.
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to fear that such a discovery among the Greek population
in the Peloponnesus would tend to circumscribe the fiscal
energy of the Constatitinopolitan treasury. The church, and
not the people, profited by the success of the Greeks: the
imperial share of the spoil taken from the Sclavonians, both
property and slaves, was bestowed on the church of St.
Andrew; and the bishops of Methone, Lacedaemon, and
Corone were declared suffragans of the metropolitan of
Patrae. T^ie charter of Nicephorus was ratified by Leo VI.,
the Wise, in a new and extended act ^.
The Bulgarians were always troublesome neighbours, as a
rude and warlike people generally proves to a wealthy popu-
lation. Their king, Crumn, was an able and warlike prince.
For some time after his accession, he was occupied by hostili- '
ties with the Avars, but as soon as that war was terminated,
he seized an opportunity of plundering a Byzantine military
chest, containing eleven hundred pounds of gold, destined for
the payment of the troops stationed on the banks of the
Strymon. After surprising the camp, dispersing the troops,
mxirdering the officers, and capturing the treasure, he extended
his ravages as far as Sardica, where he slew six thousand
Roman soldiers.
Nicephorus intoediately assembled a considerable army, and
marched to re-establish the security of his northern frontier.
The death of Haroun left so large a force at his disposal
that he contemplated the destruction of tfee Bulgarian king-
dom ; but the Byzantine troops in Europe were in a disaffected
state, and their indiscipline rendered the campaign abortive.
The resolution of Nicephorus remained, nevertheless, unshaken
though his life was in danger from the seditious conduct of the
soldiery ; and he was in the end compelled to escape from his
own camp, and seek safety in Constantinople.
In 811, a new army, consisting chiefly of conscripts and
raw recruits, was hastily assembled, aiid hurried into the field.
In preparing for the campaign, Nicephorus displayed extreme
financial severity, and ridiculed the timidity of those who
counselled delay with a degree of cynicism which paints
well the singular character of this bold financier. Having
resolved to tax monasteries, and levy an augmentation of the
* Leundavius, Jw Graeeo-Romantitn, 278; Le Quien, Oriem Christianut^ u, 179.
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land-tax from the nobility for the eight preceding years, his
ministers endeavoured to persuade him of the impolicy of his
proceedings ; but he only exclaimed, * What can you expect !
God has hardened my heart, and my subjects can expect
nothing else from me.' The historian Theophanes says that
these words were repeated to him by Theodosios, the minister
to whom they were addressed \ The energy of Nicephorus
was equal to his rapacity, but it was not supported by a
corresponding degree of military skill. He led his army so
rapidly to Markelles, a fortress built by Constantine VI.,
within the line of the Bulgarian frontier, that Crumn, alarmed
at his vigour, sent an embassy to solicit peace ^ This pro-
posal was rejected, and the emperor pushed forward and
captured a residence of the Bulgarian monarch's near the
frontiers, in which a considerable amount of treasure was
found. Crumn, dispirited at this loss, offered to accept any
terms of peace compatible with the existence of his inde-
pendence, but Nicephorus would agree to no terms but
absolute submission.
The only contemporary account of the following events is
in the chronicle of Theophanes, and it leaves us in doubt
whether the rashness of Nicephorus or the treason of his
generals was the real cause of his disastrous defeat. Even if
we give Crumn credit for g^eat military skill, the success of
the stratagem, by which he destroyed a Byzantine army
greatly superior to his own, could not have been achieved
without some treasonable co-operation in the emperor's camp.
It is certain that an officer of the imperial household had
deserted at Markelles, carrying away the emperor's wardrobe
and one hundred pounds' weight of gold, and that one of the
ablest engineers in the Byzantine service had previously fled
to Bulgaria. It seems not improbable, that by means of
these officers treasonable communications were maintained
with the disaffected in the Byzantine army.
When Nicephorus entered the Bulgarian territory, Crumn
had a much larger force in his immediate vicinity than the
* Theoph. 414; Cedrenus, ii. 481 ; Zonaras, ii. 124. Theodosios perished with
his master, therefore these words were repeated while he was a favourite minister,
and it may thence be inferred that some misconstruction has been put on the
circumstances by the prejudices of Theophanes.
* Theoph. 394.
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Byzantine generals supposed. The Bulgarian troops, though
defeated in the advance, were consequently allowed to watch
the movements of the invaders, and to entrench at no great
distance without any attempt to dislodge them. It is even
said that Crumn was allowed to work for two days, forming
a strong palisade to circumscribe the operations of the
imperial army, while Nicephorus was wasting his time collect-
ing the booty found in the Bulgarian palace ; and that, when
the emperor saw the work finished, he exclaimed, * We have
no chance of safety except by being transformed into birds!'
Yet even in this desperate position the emperor is said to
have n^lected the usual precautions to secure his camp
against a night attack. Much of this seems incredible.
Crumn made a grand nocturnal attack on the camp of
Nicephorus, just six days after the emperor had invaded the
Bulgarian kingdom. The Byzantine army was taken by
surprise, and the camp entered on every side ; the whole
baggage and military chest were taken ; the Emperor Nice-
phorus and six patricians, with many officers of the highest
rank, were slain ; and the Bulgarian king made a drinking-cup
of the skull of the emperor of the Romans, in which the
Sclavonian princes of the Bulgarian court pledged him in the
richest wines of Greece when he celebrated his triumphal
festivals \ The Bulgarians must have abandoned their
strong palisade when they attacked the camp, for a con-
siderable portion of the defeated army, with the Emperor
Staurakios, who was severely wounded, Stephen the general
of the g^ard, and Theoctistos the master of the palace,
reached Adrianople in safety. Staurakios was immediately
proclaimed his father's successor, and the army was able and
willing to maintain him on the throne, had he possessed
health and ability equal to the crisis. But the fiscal severity
of his father had created a host of enemies to the existing
system of government, and in the Byzantine empire a change
of administration implied a change of the emperor. The
numerous statesmen who expected to profit by a revolution
declared in favour of Michael Rhangab^, an insignificant
noble, who had married Procopia the daughter of Nicephorus.
Staurakios was compelled by his brother-in-law to retire into
* Theoph. 416. Nicephorus was slain on the asth July, Six.
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a monastery, where he soon died of his wounds. He had
occupied the throne two months.
Sect. II.— Michael I. {Rhangabi), A. D. 812-813.
Religious zeal of Mi'chael. — Bulgarian war. — Defeat of Michael.
Michael I. was crowned by the Patriarch Nicephoros, after
signing a written declaration that he would defend the church,
protect the ministers of religion, and never put the orthodox
to death. This election* of a tool of the bigoted party in the
Byzantine church was a reaction against the tolerant policy of
Nicephorus. The new emperor began his reign by remitting
all the additional taxes imposed by his predecessor which had
awakened clerical opposition. He was a weak, well-meaning
man ; but his wife Procopia was a lady of superior qualifica-
tions, who united to a virtuous and charitable disposition
something of her father's vigour of mind. Michael's reign
proved the necessity of always having a firm hand to guide
that complicated administrative machine which the Byzantine
sovereigns inherited from the empire of Rome.
Michael purchased popularity in the capital by the lavish
manner in which he distributed the wealth left by Nicephorus
in the imperial treasury. He bestowed large sums on monas-
teries, hospitals, poor-houses, and other charitable institutions,
and he divided liberal gratuities among the leading members
of the clergy, the chief dignitaries of the state, and the highest
officers of the army^. His piety as well as his party con-
nections induced him to admit several monks to a place in
his council ; and he made it an object of political importance to
reconcile the Patriarch Nicephoros with Theodore Studita.
But by abandoning the policy of his predecessor, after it had
received the Patriaifch*s sanction and become the law of the
church, Michael lost more in public opinion than he gained
by the alliance of a troop of bigoted monks, who laboured to
subject the power of the emperor and the policy of the state
* Theoph. 418, 419. The follbwin^ sums are recorded in detail : — Fifty pounds'
weight of gold to Ae Patriarch Nicephoros ; twenty -five to the clergy, at the
coronation ; five hundred lb. of gold to the widows of those who fell with Nice-
phorus ; one hundred lb. of gold, besides robes and ornaments, to the Patriarch
and clergy, at the coronation of his son Theophylactus.
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to their own narrow ideas. The abbot Joseph, who had
celebrated the marriage of the Emperor Constantiire VI., was
again excommunicated, as the peace-offering which allowed
the bigots to renew their communion with the Patriarch.
The counsels of Theodore Studita soon involved the govern-
ment in fresh embarrassment. To signalize his zeal for
orthodoxy, he persuaded the emperor to persecute the Icono-
clasts, who, during the preceding reign, had been allowed
to profess their opinions without molestation. It was also
proposed, in an assembly of the senate, to put the leaders
of the Paulicians and Athingans to death, in order to intimi-
date their followers, and persuade them to become orthodox
Christians. This method of converting men to the Greek
church excited strong opposition on the part of the tolerant
members of the senate ; but, the Patriarch and clergy having
deserted the cause of humanity, the permanent interests of
Christianity were sacrificed to the cause of orthodoxy.
While the emperor persecuted a large body of his subjects
on the northern and eastern frontiers of his empire, he
n^lected to defend the provinces against the incursions of
the Bulgarians, who ravaged great part of Thrace and Mace-
donia, and took several large and wealthy towns. The weight
of taxation which fell on the mass of the population was not
lightened when the emperor relieved the clergy and the
nobility from the additional burdens imposed on them by
Nicephorus. Discontent spread rapidly. A lunatic girl,
placed in a prominent position, as the emperor passed through
the streets of Constantinople, cried aloud — 'Descend from
thy seat ! descend, and make room for another ! ' The con-
tinual disasters which were announced from the Bulgarian
frontier made the people and the army remember with regret
the prosperous days of Constantine V., when the slave-markets
of the capital were filled with their enemies. Encouraged by
the general dissatisfaction, the Iconoclasts formed a conspiracy
to convey the sons of Constantine V., who were living, blind
and mute, in their exile at Panormus, to the army. The plot
was discovered, and Michael ordered the helpless princes to be
conveyed to Aphiusa, a small island in the Propontis, where
they could be closely guarded. One of the conspirators had
his tongue cut out.
The wars of Mohammed Alemen and Almamun, the sons
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of Haroun Al Rashid, relieved the empire from all serious
danger on the sidfe of the Saracens. But the Bulgarian war,
to which Michael owed his throne, soon caused him to lose it.
The army and the people despised him, because he owed his
elevation, not to his talents, but to the accident of his mar-
riage, his popularity with the monks, and the weakness of his
character, which made him an instrument in the hands of
a party. Public opinion soon decided that he was unfit to
rule the empire. The year after the death of Nicephorus,
Crumn invaded the empire with a numerous army, and took
the town of Develtos. Michael left the capital accompanied
by the Empress Procopia, in order to place himself at the
head of the troops in Thrace; but the soldiers showed so
much dissatisfaction at the presence of a female court, that the
emperor turned back to Constantinople from Tzourlou. The
Bulgarian king took advantage of the disorder which ensued
to capture Anchialos, Berrhoea, Nicaea, and Probaton in
Thrace ; and that province fell into such a state of anarchy,
that many of the colonists established by Nicephorus in Philip-
popolis and on the banks of the Strymon abandoned their
settlements and returned to Asia.
Crumn nevertheless offered peace to Michael, on the basis
of a treaty concluded between the Emperor Theodosius III.
and Comesius, prior to the victories of the Iconoclast princes.
These terms, fixing the frontier at Meleona, and regulating
the duties to be paid on merchandise in the Bulgarian king-
dom, would have been accepted by Michael, but Crumn
availed himself of his success to demand that all deserters
and refugees should be given up. As the Bulgarians were in
the habit of ransoming the greater part of their captives at
the end of each campaign, and of killing the remainder, or
selling them as slaves, this clause was introduced into the
treaty to enable Crumn to gratify his vengeance against
a number of refugees whom his tyranny had caused to
quit Bulgaria, and who had generally embraced Christianity.
The emperor remitted the examination of these conditions to
the imperial council, and in the discussion which ensued, he,
the Patriarch Nicephoros, and several bishops, declared them-
selves in favour of the treaty, on the ground that it was
necessary to sacrifice the refugees for the safety of the natives
of the empire who were in slavery in Bulgaria, and to preserve
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the population from further suffering. But Theoctistos the
master of the palace, the energetic Theodore Studita, and
a majority of the senators, declared that such conduct would
be an indelible stain on the Roman empire, and would only
invite the Bulgarians to recommence hostilities by the fear
shown in the concession. The civilians declared it would be
an act of infamy to consign to death, or to a slavery worse than
death, men who had been received as subjects ; and Theodore
pronounced that it was an act of impiety to think of deliver-
ing Christians into the hands of pagans, quoting St. John,
'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that Cometh to me I will in no wise cast out ^.' The emperor,
from motives of piety, yielded to the advice of Theodore.
Could he have adopted something of the firm character of
the abbot, he might, in all probability, either have obtained
peace on his own terms, or secured victory to his arms.
While the emperor was debating at Constantinople, Crumn
pushed forward the siege of Mesembria, which fell into his
hands in November 812. He acquired great booty, as the
place was a commercial town of considerable importance ;
and he made himself master of twenty-six of the brazen
tubes used for propelling Greek fire, with a quantity of the
combustible material prepared for this artillery. Yet, even
after this alarming news had reached Constantinople, the weak
emperor continued to devote his attention to ecclesiastical
instead of to military affairs. He seems to have felt that
he was utterly unfit to conduct the war in person ; yet
the Byzantine or Roman army demanded to be led by the
emperor.
In the spring of 813, Michael had an army in the field
prepared to resist the Bulgarians; and Crumn, finding that
his troops were suffering from a severe epidemic, retreated.
The emperor, proud of his success, returned to his capital.
The epidemic which had interrupted the operations of the
enemy was ascribed to the intervention of Tarasios, who had
been canonized for his services to orthodoxy; and the em-
peror, in order to mark his gratitude for his unexpected
acquisition of military renown, covered the tomb of St. Tara-
sios with plates of silver weighing ninety-five lb., an act of
* St. John, vi. 37.
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piety which added to the contempt the army already felt for
their sovereign's courage and capacity.
In the month of May, Michael again resumed the command
of the army, but instead of listening to the advice of the
experienced generals who commanded the troops, he allowed
himself to be guided by civilians and priests, or by the sugges-
tions of his own timidity. There were at the time three able
officers in the army — ^^Leo the Armenian, the general of the
Anatolic theme ; Michael the Amorian, who commanded one
wing of the army; and John Aplakes, the general of the
Macedonian troops. Leo and Aplakes urged the emperor to
attack the Bulgarians ; but the Amorian, who was intriguing
against Theoctistos the master of the palace, seems to have
been disinclined to serve the emperor with sincerity. The
Bulgarians were encamped at Bersinikia, about thirty miles
from the Byzantine army; a^id Michael, after changing his
plans more than once, resolved at last to risk a battle.
Aplakes, who commanded the Macedonian and Thracian
troops, consisting chiefly of hardy Sclavonian recruits, defeated
the Bulgarian division opposed to him; but a panic seized
a part of the Byzantine army; jmd Leo, with the Asiatic
troops, was accused of allowing Aplakes to be surrounded and
slain, when he might have saved him. Leo certainly saved his
own division, and made it the rallying-point for the fugitives ;
yet he does not appear to have been considered guilty of any
neglect by the soldiers. The emperor fled to Constantinople,
while the defeated army retreated to Adrianople.
Michael assembled his ministers in the capital, and talked
of resigning his crown ; for he deemed his defeat a judgment
for mounting the throne of his brother-in-law. Procopia and
his courtiers easily persuaded him to abandon his half-formed
resolution. The army in the mean time decided the fate of
the empire. Leo the Armenian appeared alone worthy of
the crown. The defeated troops saluted him Emperor, and
marched to Constantinople, where nobody felt inclined to
support the weak Michael; so that Leo was acknowledged
without opposition, and crowned in St. Sophia's on the nth
July, 813.
The dethroned emperor was compelled to embrace the
monastic life, and lived unmolested in the island of Prote,
where he died in 845. His son, Theophylactus, who had
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POLICY OF LEO V. 1 13
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been crowned as his colleague, and his brother Ignatius, were
emasculated and forced to become monks. Ignatius became
Patriarch of Constantinople in the reign of Michael IIL^
Sect. III. — Leo V. {the Armentan)\ A.D. 813-820.
Policy of Leo. — ^Treacherous attack on Cnimn. — Victory over Bulgarians. — Affairs
of Italy and Sicily. — Moderation in ecclesiastical contests. — Council favourable
to Iconoclasts. — Impartial administration of justice. — Conspiracy against Leo.
— His assassination.
When Leo entered the capital, the Patriarch Nicephoros
endeavoured to convert the precedent which Michael I. had
given, of signing a written declaration of orthodoxy, into an
established usage of the empire ; but the new emperor excused
himself from signing any document before his coronation, and
afterwards he denied the right to require it ^. Leo was in-
clined to favour the Iconoclasts, but he was no bigot. The
Asiatic party in the army and in the administration, which
supported him, were both enemies to image-worship. To
strengthen the influence of his friends was naturally the first
step of his reign. Michael the Amorian, who had warmly
supported his election, was made a patrician. Thomas,
another general, who is said to have been descended from
the Sclavonian colonists settled in Asia Minor, was appointed
general of the federates *. Manuel, an Armenian of the noble
race of the Mamiconians, received the command of the
Armenian troops, and subsequently of the Anatolic theme ^.
■ Awtoris incerti HUt^ at the end of Theoph., 451 ; Contin., in Script, post
Tk§oph. 13.
• Leo was the son of Bardas, a patrician of the distinguished Armenian family
of the Ardzronnians. Genesius, 16 ; Chamich, i. 599.
' Theophanes (426) says Leo gave the Patriarch a written assurance of his
orthodoxy, and he is followed by the anonymous chronicle (431), by Leo Gram-
maticus (445), by Symeon Mag. (40a), and Georg. Mon. (499). But the anony-
mous history written by the order of Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the Scriptont
poti Thtopkanem (18), and Genesius (12), give the statement in the text, which is
confinned by Ignatius in his life of the Patriarch Nicephoros. Acta Sanet. Mart,
71a The authority of the Patriarch Ignatius far outweighs every other. Schlosser,
391 ; Neander, iii. 532. The Emperor Leo doubtless made the customary general
declaration of orthodoxy contained in the coronation oath, which had appeared
so vague as to require the written supplement signed by his predecessor.
* Genesius, 3, 14 ; Contin., in Script, post Theoph, 32. We must conclude that
one of the parents of Thomas was a Sclavonian, the other an Armenian (see p. 130,
mote a).
» Contin. 15, 68,
VOL. II. I Of^c^n\o
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At Christmas the title of Emperor was conferred on Sembat,
the eldest son of Leo, who then changed his name to Con-
stantine.
Leo was allowed little time to attend to civil business, for,
six days after his coronation, Crumn appeared before the
walls of Constantinople. The Bulgarian king encamped in
the suburb of St. Mamas ^, and extended his lines from the
Blachemian to the Golden Gate ; but he soon perceived that
his army could not long maintain its position, and he allowed
his troops to plunder and destroy the property of the citizens
in every direction, in order to hasten the conclusion of a treaty
of peace. Leo was anxious to save the possessions of his
subjects from ruin, Crumn was eager to retreat without losing
any of the plunder his army had collected. A treaty might
have been concluded, had not Leo attempted to get rid of his
enemy by an act of the basest treachery. A conference was
appointed, to which the emperor and the king were to repair,
attended only by a fixed number of guards. Leo laid a plot
for assassinating Crumn at this meeting, and the Bulgarian
monarch escaped with the greatest difficulty, leaving his chan-
cellor dead, and most of his attendants captives. This
infamous act was so generally approved by the perverted
religious feelings of the Greek ecclesiastics, that the historian
Theophanes, an abbot and holy confessor, in concluding his
chronological record of the transactions of the Roman em-
perors, remarks that the empire was not permitted to witness
the death of Crumn by this ambuscade, in consequence of the
multitude of the people's sins ^.
The Bulgarians avenged the emperor's treachery on the
helpless inhabitants of the empire in a terrible manner. They
began by destroying the suburb of St. Mamas ; palaces,
churches, public and private buildings were burnt to the
ground ; the lead was torn from the domes, which were fire-
proof ; the vessels taken at the head of the port were added
to the conflagration ; numerous beautiful works of art were
destroyed, and many carried off, among which particular men-
tion is made of a celebrated bronze lion, a bear, and a hydra ^
^ Between Eyoub and the walls of Constantinople.
» Theoph. 427.
» Theoph. 427; Leo Grammaticus, 446; Anonym. He Ant, Const. Nos. 163,
346, in Banduri, Imp, Orient, ii. 58, 87, edit. Paris; and Gyllius, De Topograph,
Constant.^ ibid. 416.
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The Bulgarians then quitted their lines before Constantinople,
and marched to Selymbria, destroying on their way the
immense stone bridge over the river Athyras, (Karasou,)
celebrated for the beauty of its construction^. Selymbria,
Rhedestos, and Apres were sacked ; the country round Ganas
was ravaged, but Heraclea and Panion resisted the assaults
of the invaders. Men were everywhere put to the sword,
while the young women, children, and cattle were driven away
to Bulgaria. Part of the army penetrated into the Thracian
Chersonese, and laid waste the country. Adrianople was
compelled to surrender by famine, and after it had been plun-
dered, the barbarians retired unmolested with an incredible
booty and an innumerable train of slaves.
The success of this campaign induced a body of 30,000
Bulgarians to invade the empire during the winter. They
captured Arcadiopolis ; and though they were detained for
a fortnight, during their retreat, by the swelling of the river
Rheginas ^ (Bithyas,) Leo could not venture to attack them.
They r^ained the Bulgarian frontier, carrying away fifty
thousand captives and immense booty, and leaving behind
them a terrible scene of desolation ^.
Emboldened by the apparent weakness of the empire,
Crumn made preparations for besieging Constantinople, by
collecting all the machines^of war then in use *. Leo thought
it necessary to construct a new wall beyond that in exist-
ence at the Blachemian gate, and to add a deep ditch, for in
this quarter the fortifications of the capital appeared weak.
Crumn died before the opening of the campaign ; and Leo,
having by the greatest exertion at last collected an army
capable of taking the field, marched to Mesembria. There
he succeeded in surprising the Bulgarians, by a night attack
on their camp. The defeat was most sanguinary. The Bul-
garian army was annihilated, and the place where the dead
were buried was long called the Mountain of Leo, and avoided
by the Bulgarians as a spot of evil augury. After this victory
* Steph. Byz. 'A^i^ ; Plinii H, N, iv. 47.
• Erginus? Scylax. aS; Plinii H, iV., ubi supra, Hierodes (31) and Constant.
Porphvr. {De Them, ii. 2) mention Ganos.
• The booty consisted of Armenian blankets, carpets, clothing, and brazen pans.
Symeon Mag. 410 ; Auet, mcert. Hist., at the end of Theophanes, 434.
* Auet, ineert, ffist, 434, where a curious list of the ancient machines then in
use is givoi.
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the emperor invaded Bulgaria, which he ravaged with as much
cruelty as Crumn had ever shown in plundering the empire.
At last a truce for thirty years was concluded with Mortagon,
the new king. The power of these dangerous neighbours was
so weakened by the recent exertions they had made, and by
the wealth they had acquired, that for many years they were
disposed to remain at peace.
The influence of the Byzantine emperors in the West,
though much diminished by the conquests of Charlemagne,
the independence of the popes, and the formation of two
Saracen kingdoms in Africa and Spain, continued, neverthe-
less, to be very great, in consequence of the extensive mer-
cantile connections of the Greeks, who then possessed the
most lucrative part of the commerce of the Mediterranean.
At this time the Aglabites of Africa and the Ommiades of
Spain ruled a rebellious and ill-organized society of Moham-
medan chiefs of various races, which even arbitrary power
could not bend to the habits of a settled administration.
Both these states sent out piratical expeditions by sea, when
their incursions by land were restrained by the warlike power
of their neighbours. Michael I. had been compelled to send
an army to Sicily, to protect it from the incursions of pirates
both from Africa and Spain. Lampedosa had been occupied
by Saracen corsairs, and many Gneek ships captured, before
the joint forces of the Dukes of Sicily and Naples, with the
vessels from Amalfi and Venice, defeated the plunderers, and
cleared the sea for awhile. The quarrels of the Aglabites and
Ommiades induced the former to conclude a truce for ten
years with Leo, and to join the naval forces of the Greeks and
Venetians in attacking the Spanish Saracens ^.
The disturbances which prevailed in the East during the
caliphate of Almamun insured tranquillity to the Asiatic
frontier of the empire, and allowed Leo to devote his whole
attention to the internal state of his dominions. The church
was the only public institution immediately connected with
the feelings of the whole population. By its conduct the
people were directly interested in the proceedings of the impe-
rial government. Ecclesiastical affairs, offering the only field
for the expression of public opinion, became naturally the
^ Schlosser, 403 ; Pope Leo's letter in Coleti, Acta S, Coneil, ix. 157.
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centre of all political ideas and party struggles. Even in an
administrative point of view, the regular organization of the
clergy under parish priests, bishops, and provincial councils,
gave the church a degree of power in the state which com-
pelled the emperor to watch it attentively. The principles of
ecclesiastical independence inculcated by Theodore Studita,
and adopted by the monks, and that portion of the clergy
which favoured image-worship, alarmed the emperor. This
party inculcated a belief in contemporary miracles, and in
the daily intervention of God in human affairs. All prudence,
all exertion on the part of individuals, was as nothii^ com-
pared to the favour of some image accidentally endowed with
divine grace. That such images could at any time reveal the
existence of a hidden treasure, or raise the possessor to high
official rank, was the common conviction of the superstitious
and enthusiastic, both among the laity and the clergy ; and
such doctrines were especially favoured by the monks, so that
the people, under the guidance of these teachers, became
"Negligent of moral duties and regular industry. The Icono-
clasts themselves appealed to the decision of Heaven as
favouring their cause, by pointing to the misfortunes of Con-
stantine VI., Irene, NicejJiorus, and Michael I., who had
supported image-worship, and contrasting their reigns with
the victories and peaceful end of Leo the Isaurian, Constan-
dne v., and Leo IV., who were the steady opponents of
idolatry.
Leo v., though averse to image-worship, possessed so much
prudence and moderation, that he was inclined to rest satisfied
with the direct acknowledgment that the civil power possessed
the right of tolerating religious difference. But the army
demanded the abolition of image-worship, and the monks the
persecution of Iconoclasts. Leo's difficulties, in meddling
with ecclesiastical affairs, gave his policy a dubious character,
and obtained for him, among the Greeks, the name of the
Chameleon. Several learned members of the clergy were
opposed to image-worship ; and of these the most eminent
were the abbot John Hylilas, and Antony, bishop of Syllaeum.
John, called, from his superior learning, the Grammarian, was
accused by the ignorant of studying magic ; and the nickname
of Lekanomantis was given him, because he was said to read
the secrets of futurity in a brazen basin. The Iconoclasts
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were also supported by Theodotos Kassiteras, son of the
patrician Michael Melissenos, whose sister had been the third
wife of Constantine V. These three endeavoured to persuade
Leo to declare openly against image-worship. On the other
hand, the majority of the Greek nation was firmly attached
to image-worship; and the cause was supported by the
Patriarch, by Theodore Studita, and a host of monks. The
emperor flattered himself that he should be able to bring
about an amicable arrangement to ensure general toleration,
and commanded John Hylilas to draw up a report of the
opinions expressed by the earliest fathers of the church on the
subject of image-worship.
As soon as he was in possession of this report, he asked the
Patriarch to make some concessions on the subject of pictures,
in order to satisfy the army and preserve peace in the church.
He wished that the pictures should be placed so high as to
prevent the people making the gross display of superstitious
worship constantly witnessed in the churches. But the Patri-
arch boldly pronounced himself in favour of images and
pictures, whose worship, he declared, was authorized by im-
memorial tradition, and the foundation of the orthodox faith
was formed according to the opinion of the church on tradition
as well as on Holy Scripture. He added that the opinions of
the church were inspired by the Holy Spirit as well as the
Scriptures. The emperor then proposed a conference between
the two parties, and the clergy were thrown into ^ state of the
greatest excitement at this proposition, which implied a doubt
of their divine inspiration. The Patriarch summoned his
partisans to pass the night in prayers for the safety of the
church, in the cathedral of St. Sophia. The emperor had
some reason to regard this as seditious, and he was alarmed
at the disorders which must evidently arise from both parties
appealing to popular support. He summoned the Patriarch
to the palace, where the night was spent in controversy.
Theodore Studita was one of those who attended the Patriarch
on this occasion, and his steady assertion of ecclesiastical
supremacy rendered him worthy, from his bold and un-
compromising views, to have occupied the chair of St. Peter.
He told the emperor plainly that a temporal sovereign had no
authority to interfere with the doctrines of the church, since
his rule only extended over the civil and military government
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of the empire. The church had full authority to govern itself.
Leo was enraged at this boldness, and dissatisfied with the
conduct of the Patriarch, who anathematized Antony, the
bishop of Syllaeum, as the leader of the Iconoclasts ; but for
the present the clergy were only required to abstain from
holding public assemblies.
The Iconoclasts, however, now began to remove images and
pictures from the churches in possession of the clei^ of their
party, and the troops on several occasions insulted the image
over the entrance of the imperial palace, which had been
removed by Leo the Isaurian and replaced by Irene. The
emperor now ordered it to be again removed, on the ground
that this was necessary to avoid public disturbance. These
acts induced Theodore Studita to call on the monks to
subscribe a declaration that they adhered firmly to the
doctrines of the church, with respect to image-worship, as
then established. The emperor, alarmed at the danger of
causing a new schism in the church, but feeling himself called
upon to resist the attacks now made on his authority, de-
termined to relieve the civil power from the necessity of
engaging in a contest with the ecclesiastical, by assembling
a general council of the church, and leaving the two parties
in the priesthood to settle their own differences. As he was
in doubt how to proceed, it happened that both the Patriarch
and the abbot, John Hylilas, were officiating together in the
Christmas ceremonies while Leo was present, and that John,
in the performance of his duty, had to repeat the words of
Isaiah, 'To whom then will ye liken God-? or what will ye
compare unto him ? The workman melteth a graven image,
and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth
silver chains ^.* In pronouncing these words he turned to the
emperor, and uttered them in the most emphatic manner.
A few days after this scene, a band of mutinous soldiers broke
into the patriarchal palace, destroyed the pictures of the
saints with which the building was adorned, and committed
other disorders, until they were driven out by the regular
guard. At length, in the month of April 815, Leo ordered
a provincial synod to assemble at Constantinople, and before
this assembly the Patriarch Nicephoros was brought by force,
* Isaiah, xl. 18, 19.
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for he denied its competency to take cognizance of his con-
duct. He was deposed, and confined in a monastery which
he had founded, where he survived twelve years — ^a time
which he passed more usefully for the world, in compiling
the historical works we possess, than he could have passed
them amidst the contests of the patriarchal dignity^.
The bigotry of both parties rendered the moderate policy
of the emperor of no effect ; and public attention became so
exclusively absorbed by the state of the church, that it was
impossible for him to remain any longer neutral. His first
decided step was to nominate a new Patriarch hostile to
image-worship; and he selected Theodotos Melissenos, a
layman already mentioned, who held a high post in the
imperial court The example of the election of Tarasios
prevented the votaries of image-worship disputing the legality
of the election of a layman ; but they refused to acknowledge
Theodotos, on the ground that the deposition of Nicephoros
was illegal, and that he was consequently still their lawful
Patriarch. Theodotos was nevertheless ordained and con-
secrated, A.D. 815. He was a man of learning and ability,
but his habits as a military man and a courtier were said to
be visible in his manners, and he was accused of living with
too great splendour, keeping a luxurious table, and indulging
habitually in society of too worldly a character.
A general council of the church was held at Constantinople,
in which the new Patriarch, and Constantine the son of Leo,
presided ; for the emperor declined taking a personal part in
the dispute, in order to allow the church to decide on ques-
tions of doctrine without any direct interference of the civil
power. This council re-established the acts of that held in
754 by Constantine V., abolishing ims^e-worship, and it
anathematized the Patriarchs Tarasios and Nicephoros, and
all image-worshippers. The clergy, therefore, who adhered
to the principles of the image-worshippers were, in conse-
quence, deprived of their ecclesiastical dignities, and sent
* Nicephoros died a.d. 8a8. His works are — Breviarium Historicum de RAus
Oestis ah Obitu Mauricii ad Constantinum usque Copronymum, in the Bjrzantine col-
lection, and a Chronographia' annexed to tne work of Syncellus. The Patriarch
Fhotius, in a letter to the Emoeror Basil I., mentions that Leo treated the deposed
Patriarch with indulgence. He enjoyed the use of his books and the society of
his friends, as well as the possession of his private fortune. Photii Episiolat,
No. 97, p. 136, edit. Lond.
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into banishment ; but the party revolutions that had frequently
occurred in the Greek church had introduced a dishonourable
system of compliance with the reigning faction, and most of
the clergy were readier to change their opinions than to quit
their benefices \ This habitual practice of falsehood received
the mild name of arrangement, or economy, to soften the
public aversion to such conduct ^,
The Iconoclast party, on this occasion, used its victory with
imusual mildness. They naturally drove their opponents
from their ecclesiastical offices ; and when some bold monks
persisted in preaching against the acts of the council, they
banished these non-conformists to distant monasteries ; but it
does not appear that the civil power was called upon to
enforce conformity with the customary rigour ^ The council
decided that images and pictures were to be removed from
the churches, and if the people resisted their removal, or the
clergy or monks replaced them, severe punishments were to
be inflicted for this violation of the law. Cruelty was a
feature in the Byzantine civil administration, without any
impulse of religious fanaticism.
Theodore Studita, who feared neither patriarch nor emperor,
and acknowledged no authority in ecclesiastical affairs but
the church, while he recognised nothing as the church but
what accorded with his own standard of orthodoxy, set the
decrees of this council at defiance. He proceeded openly
through the streets of the capital, followed by his monks in
solenm procession, bearing aloft the pictures which had been
removed from the churches, to give them a safe asylum
within the walls of the monastery of Studion. For this con-
tempt for the law he was banished by the emperor to Asia
Minor ; and his conduct in exile affords us a remarkable proof
of the practical liberty the monks had acquired by their
honest and steady resistance to the civil power. All eyes
were fixed on Theodore as the leader of the monastic party ;
and so great was the power he exerted over public opinion,
that the emperor did not venture to employ any illegal
* The historian Theophanes, author of the Chronography, which has been at
times our only, and often our best, guide in the preceding pages, was a noble
exception to the system of compliance. He was among those who were banished,
and died shortly after in exile in Samothrace.
* OUmtofda was the word. Neander, iii. 541.
» Photii Ep. No. 97.
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severity against the bold monk he had imprisoned. Indeed,
the administration of justice in the Byzantine empire seems
never to have been more regular and equitable than during
the reign of Leo the Armenian.
Theodore from his prison corresponded not only with the
most eminent bishops and monks of his party, and with
ladies of piety and wealth, but also with the Pope, to whom,
though now a foreign potentate, the bold abbot sent deputies,
as if he were himself an independent authority in the Eastern
church ^. His great object was to oppose the Iconoclasts in
every way, and prevent all those over whose minds he
exercised any influence from holding communion with those
who conformed to their authority. One thing seems to have
distressed and alarmed him, and he exerted all his eloquence
to expose its fallacy. The Iconoclasts declared that no one
could be a martyr for Christ's sake who was only punished by
the civil power for image-worship, since the question at issue
had no connection with the truth of Christianity. Theodore
argued that the night of heresy was darker than that of
ignorance, and the merit of labouring to illuminate it was at
least as great. The Emperor Leo was, however, too prudent to
give any of Theodore's party the slightest hope of obtaining
the crown of martyrdom. He persisted in his policy of
enforcing the decrees of the council with so much mildness,
and balancing his own expressions of personal opinion with
such a degree of impartiality, that he excited the dissatisfac-
tion of the violent of both parties ^.
Even in a corrupted and factious society, most men appreciate
the equitable administration of justice. Interest and ambition
may indeed so far pervert the feelings of an administrative or
aristocratic class, as to make the members of such privil^ed
societies regard the equal distribution of justice to the mass of
the people as dangerous to order ; and the passions en-
gendered by religious zeal may blind those under its influence
* He seems to have been the chief mover in the foundation of the monastery of
St. Praxedes at Rome, in Mvhich the Greek monks who fled from persecution were
established by Pope Paschal. Anastasius, De Vitis Pont. 150.
* The letters 01 Theodore Studita furnish information concerning the mildness
of Leo's government. The fact that the banished abbot could carry on so exten-
sive a correspondence, proves that the liberty guaranteed by the laws of the
Roman empire, when these laws were eauitably administered, was not an idle
phrase at Constantinople under the Iconoclasts.
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to any injustice committed against men of different opinions.
Hence it is that a government, to secure the administration
of justice, must be established on a broader basis than
administrative wisdom, aristocratic pre-eminence, or religious
orthodoxy. In the Byzantine empire, public opinion can
hardly be said to have existed among the mass of the
population, whose minds and actions were regulated and
enslaved by administrative influence, by the power of the
wealthy, and by the authority of the clergy and the monks ^.
One result of this state of society is visible in the violence of
party passion displayed concerning insignificant matters in
the capital ; and hence it arose that the political interests of
the empire were frequently disconnected with the questions
that exercised the greatest influence on the fate of the
government. The moderation of Leo, which, had public
opinion possessed any vitality, ought to have rendered his
administration popular with the majority of his subjects in
the provinces, certainly rendered it unpopular in Constanti-
nople. Crowds under the influence of passion and excitement,
express the temporary feelings of the people before deliberation
can acquire the power of fixing public opinion. Leo was
hated by the Greeks as an Armenian and an Iconoclast ; and
he was disliked by many of the highest officers in the state
and the army for the severity of his judicial administration,
and the strictness with which he maintained moral as well as
military discipline, so that no inconsiderable number of the
class who directed state affairs was disposed to welcome a
revolution. Irene had governed the empire by eunuchs, who
had put up everything for sale ; Nicephorus had thought of
those reforms only that tended to fill the treasury; Michael I.
had been the tool of a bigoted faction. All these sovereigns
had accumulated opposition to good government.
Leo undertook the task of purifying the administration,
and he commenced his reforms by enforcing a stricter dispen-
sation of justice. His enemies acknowledged that he put a
stop to corruption with wonderful promptitude and ability.
^ Id the Byzantine, as in the Roman empire, the administration, including the
emperor and all his servants, or, as the servants of the state were called, his
household, formed a class apart from the inhabitants of the empire, governed
by different laws, while the subjects under the civil laws of Rome were again
separated into the rich and the poor, o\ 8woto2 and oX ircviyrff, whom usage more
than l^slation constituted into separate classes.
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[Bk.I.Ch.II. 53.
He restored the discipline of the army, he repressed bribery
in the courts of justice, by strictly reviewing all judicial
decisions, and he re-established an equitable system of
collecting the revenue ^. He repaired the fortresses destroyed
by the Bulgarians, and placed all the frontiers of the empire
in a respectable state of defence. All this, it was universally
acknowledged, was due to his personal activity in watching
over the proceedings of his ministers. Even the Patriarch
Nicephoros, whom he had deposed, gave testimony to his
merits as an emperor. When he heard of Leo's assassination,
he exclaimed, * The church is delivered from a dangerous
enemy, but the empire has lost a useful sovereign.'
The officers of the court, who expected to profit by a
change of measures, formed a conspiracy to overthrow Leo's
government, which was joined by Michael the Amorian, who
had long been the emperor's most intimate friend. The
ambition of this turbulent and unprincipled soldier led him to
think that he had as good a right to the throne as Leo ; and
when he perceived that a general opposition was felt in Con-
stantinople to the emperor's conduct, his ambition got the
better of his gratitude, and he plotted to mount the throne.
It was generally reported that Leo had refused to accept the
imperial crown, when proclaimed emperor by the army at
Adrianople, from his knowledge of the difficulties with which
he would have to contend, and that Michael forced him to
yield his assent, by declaring that he must either accept the
crown, or be put to death to make way for a new candidate.
The turbulent character of Michael gave currency to this
anecdote.
Michael's conduct had long been seditious, when at length
his share in a conspiracy against the government was dis-
covered, and he was tried, found guilty, and condemned to
death. It is said by the chronicles that the court of justice
left it to the emperor to order his execution in any way he
might think proper, and that Leo condemned him to be
immediately cast into the furnace used for heating the baths
of the palace, and prepared to attend the execution in person.
* A case of his personal decision, where the praetor had refused justice against
a senator, is reported as a proof of his rigid attention to the equal administration
of the law. Genesius, 8 ; Contin., in Script, post Tfuoph, 19. Mortneuil (i. 355)
gives it from Bonefidius (7), who has extracted it from Cedrenus (ii. 491).
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It is needless to say that, though cruelty was the vice of the
Byzantine court, we must rank this story as a tale fitter for
the l^ends of the saints than for the history of the empire.
The event took place on Christmas-eve, when the empress,
hearing what was about to happen, and moved with com-
passion for one who had long been her husband's intimate
friend, hastened to Leo, and implored him to defer the
execution until after Christmas-day. She urged the sin of
participating in the holy communion with the cries of the
dying companion of his youth echoing in his ear. Leo — who,
though severe, was not personally cruel — yielded to his wife's
entreaties, and consented with great reluctance to postpone
the punishment, for his knowledge of the extent of the con-
spiracy gave him a presentiment of danger. After giving
orders for staying the execution, he turned to the empress
and said, ' I grant your request : you think only of my
eternal welfare ; but you expose my life to the greatest peril,
and your scruples may bring misfortune on you and on our
children.'
Michael was conducted back to his dungeon, and the key
of his fetters was brought to Leo. It was afterwards told in
Constantinople that during the night the emperor was unable
to sleep. A sense of impending danger, disturbing his
imagination, impelled him to rise from his bed, envelop
himself in a mantle, and secretly visit the cell in which
Michael was confined. There he found the door unlocked,
and Michael stretched on the bed of his jailor, buried in
profound sleep, while the jailor himself was lying on the
criminars bed on the floor. The emperor's alarm was
increased at this spectacle. He withdrew to consider what
measures he should take to watch both the prisoner and
the jailor. But Michael had already many partisans within
the walls of the palace, and one of these having observed the
emperor's nocturnal visit to the criminal's cell, immediately
awakened Michael. There was not a moment to lose. A
friendly confessor had been introduced into the palace to
afford the condemned criminal the consolations of religion :
this priest was hurried off to Theoctistos to announce that,
unless a blow was instantly struck, Michael would at day-
light purchase his own pardon by revealing the names
of the principal conspirators. This message caused the
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[Bk.I.Ch.II.§3.
conspirators to resolve on the immediate assassination of
the emperor.
The imperial palace was a fortress separated from the
city like the present sera]f of the sultan. It was the practice
of Leo to attend matins in his chapel, and as it was Christmas-
day, a number of the best singers in Constantinople were
that morning admitted at a postern-gate before daybreak, in
order to join in the celebration of the service, whose solemn
chant was then the admiration of the Christian worlds
Leo, who was of a religious turn of mind, delighted in
displaying his deep sonorous voice in the choir. He delayed
his measures for securing Michael and the jailor to hasten to
the chapel, and the conspirators availed themselves of his
presence during the celebration of divine service to execute
their plans. Disguised as choristers, with daggers concealed
in their clothes, they obtained admittance at the postern, and
ranged themselves among the singers in the imperial chapel.
The morning was dark and cold, and both the emperor and
the officiating chaplain were enveloped in furred mantles, which,
with the thick bonnets they wore as a protection against
the damp, effectually concealed their faces. But as soon as
the powerful voice of Leo was heard in the solemn hymns,
the assassins pressed forward to stab him. Some, however,
mistaking the chaplain for the emperor, wounded the priest,
whose cries revealed the mistake, and then all turned on Leo,
who defended himself for some time with a crucifix which he
snatched up. His hand was soon cut off, and he fell before
the communion-table, where his body was hewed in pieces.
The assassins then hurried to the cell of Michael, whom they
proclaimed emperor, and thus consummated the revolution
for which he was under sentence of death. Few sovereigns of
the Byzantine empire seem to have exerted themselves more
sincerely than Leo V. to perform the duties of their station,
* Charlemagne was profoundly affected by the solemn music of the Greek
service. We may conclude that it bore a closer resemblance to the music of
the Russian churdi of to-day than to the nasal melody of modem Greek psidmody.
See the enthusiastic manner in which Joannes Cameniates speaks of Byzantine
church-music in the tenth century. D€ Exeidio Tktstalomcensit c x., in Script, post
Theopk. p. 326. [Still, the fact that, after the capture of Salonica in 1185, when
the Greek priests chanted their service, the Norman soldiers howled out a chorus
in imitation of beaten hounds, seems a sufficient proof of the nasal character of
the ecclesiastical music of that period ; and it probably was traditional. Those
who sing nasally, naturally admire nasal music. £d.]
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yet few have received less praise for their good qualities ; nor
did his assassination create any reaction of public opinion in
his favour. Though he died with the crucifix in his hand,
he was condemned as if he had been a bigoted Iconoclast.
His wife and children were compelled to adopt a monastic
life^
* For the reign of Leo V., see the anonymous author at the end of Theophanes ;
Leo Grammaticus, 445 ; the continuator of Theophanes, by order of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, in Script, post Theoph.; Symeon Log. et Mag. 411, and Georg,
Mon. 500, both in the Script, post Theoph.; Genesius; Cedrenus, 487; Zonaras,
ii. 152; and the shorter chronicles.
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CHAPTER III.
The Amorian Dynasty, a.d. 820-867.
Sect. I. — Michael II. {the Stammerer), A.D. 820-829.
Birth of Michael II. — Rebellion of Thomas.— Loss of Crete and Sicily. — MichaeVs
ecclesiastical policy. — Marriage and death.
Michael II. was proclaimed emperor with the fetters on
his limbs ; and the first spectacle of his reign was the jailor
delivering him from a felon's bonds. When relieved from
his irons, he proceeded to the church of St. Sophia, where he
was crowned by the Patriarch.
Michael II. was born in the lowest rank of society. He
entered the army as a private soldier in early youth, but
his attention to his duties, and his military talents, quickly
raised him to the rank of general. His influence over the
troops aided in placing Leo V. on the imperial throne.
Amorium was his birthplace — an important and wealthy
city, inhabited by a mixed population of various races and
languages, collected together by trading interests^. The
Phrygians, who formed the majority, still retained many
native usages, and some religious ideas adverse to Greek
prejudices. Many Jews had also been established in the
city for ages, and a sect called the Athingans, who held
that the touch of many things was a contamination, had
numerous votaries 2.
The low origin of Michael, and the half-suppressed
contempt he disclosed for Greek learning, Roman pride,
and ecclesiastical tradition, awakened some animosity in
* See p. 14, note i.
* The Athingans took their name from 0tyy6yw, and the allusion is to Colossians,
iL a I, * Touch not, taste not, handle not.'
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ACCESSION OF MICHAEL II. 139
the breasts of the pedants, the nobles, and the orthodox of
Constantinople*. It is not surprising, therefore, that the
historians who wrote under the patronage of the enemies
of the Amorian dynasty should represent its founder as a
horse-jockey, a heretic, and a stammerer. As he showed
no particular favour to the Greek party in the Byzantine
church, his orthodoxy was questioned by the great body of
the clergy; and as he very probably expressed himself with
hesitation in the Greek language, as spoken at court, any
calumny would find credit with the Hellenic populace, who
have always been jealous of strangers, and eager to avenge,
by words, the compliance they are generally too ready to
yield in their actions to foreign masters.
Michael, however, had sagacity to observe the difficulties
which the various parties in the church and court might create
to his administration. To gain time, he began by conciliating
every party. The orthodox, headed by Theodore Studita
and the exiled Patriarch Nicephoros, was the most powerful.
He flattered these two ecclesiastics, by allowing them to
return to the capital, and he even permitted Theodore to
resume his functions as abbot of Studion ; but, on the other
hand, he refused to adopt their suggestions for a reaction
in favour of image-worship. He seems to have been naturally
inclined to religious toleration, and he was anxious to repress
all disputes within the pale of the church, as the best means
of maintaining the public tranquillity. In order to give a
public guarantee for the spirit of the civil power, which he
desired should characterize his reign, he held a silention to
announce toleration of private opinion in ecclesiastical ques-
tions ; but it was declared that the existing laws against the
exhibition of images and pictures in churches were to be
strictly enforced*-^. The indifference of Michael to the
ecclesiastical disputes which agitated a church, to many of
whose doctrines he was at heart adverse, did not create so
violent an opposition as the sincerer conduct of his predeces-
sors, who banished images on religious grounds.
* Ti^y *EXXijviK^ woU^viriv Jkairr^afif, Contin., in Script, post Theopk. 31. Abul*
pharagias (CA. Syr. 150) says Michael was the son of a converted Jew. Niketes,
in his life of Ignatius (Labbe, Concil. viii. 11 83), says he was of the Sabbatian
heresy. Some modems wish to make both the emperor and the Athingans gipsies
without any reason.
* Pagi ad Baron. Aim, Eeclts, a.d. 8a i.
VOL. II. K
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I30 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.IILSi.
The elevation of a new emperor, who possessed few claims
to distinction, awakened, as usual, the hopes of every ambi-
tious general. A formidable rival appeared in the person of
Thomas, the only officer of eminence who had remained
faithful to the rebel Bardanes, when Leo and Michael deserted
his standard. Thomas, as has been already mentioned, was
appointed general of the federates by Leo V., but, owing to
some circumstances which are not recorded, he had retired
into the dominions of the caliph, and remained for some time
on the borders of Armenia ^. His origin, whether Sclavonian
or Armenian, by separating him in an unusual d^free from
the ruling classes in the empire — for he was, like Michael, of a
very low rank in society— caused him to be regarded as a
friend of the people ; and all the subject races in the empire
espoused his cause, which in many provinces took the form of
an attack on the Roman administration, rather than of a
revolution to place a new emperor on the throned This
rebellion is remarkable for assuming more of the character of
a social revolution than <rf an ordinary insurrection^. Thomas
overran all Asia Minor without meeting with any serious
opposition even on the part of the towns ; so that, with the
exception of the Armeniac theme and Opsikioii, his authority
was universally acknowledged, and the administration was
conducted by his officers. He concluded an alliance with the
Saracens to enable him to visit Antioch and receive the
imperial crown from the hands of the Patriarch Job*. This
alliance with the infidels tended to injure his popularity; and
when he returned accompanied by large bodies of mercenary
troops, collected from the Mohammedan tribes on the frontier,
the public enthusiasm for his cause became sensibly dimin-
ished. Thomas, too, feeling more confidence in the power of
* Schlosser, Gesehiehte der bild. Kauer, 437. The letter of Michael to Louis k •
Ddbonnaire, in Baronius, Ann. Eeclts, ix. p. 898, a.d. 824 ; Fleury, Hist, EccUt,
lib. xlviii. c. 4.
* Compare Genesius (3, 14) with Continuator {Script, post ThtopJk, 5), who says
Thomas was bom at the lake Gazuras. The town of Gaziura, near the river Iris
in Pontus, b mentioned by Strabo, xii. 3. p. 547. See Hamilton, Researches in
Asia MinoTt i. 359. He is said to have lived long among the Saracens, and to
have given himself out for Constantine VI. Some of the reports seem irrecon-
cilable, and look as if the history of two persons had been confounded.
' Contin., in Script, post Theoph, 4 : hvr€v$€v leal 9ovXm mrd 5coirorttir teat arpor
Ti&rrjf itard ra^iirrov, icdi Xoxaydf /card arpartfyiTOv rip^ x*^ <poy&aay KoB^Kti^,
/r.T.X.
* Contin. 35; Genesius, 15.
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REBELLION OF THOMAS. 131
his army, began to show himself careless of the good-will of
the people.
The only manner of putting an end to the war was by
taking Constantinople, and this Thomas prepared to attempt.
An immense fleet was assembled at Lesbos. Gr^orios
Pterotes, a relation of Leo V., who had been banished to
Skyros by Michael, was sent into Thrace at the head of ten
thousand men to prepare for the arrival of Thomas, who soon
followed with the bulk of his army, and formed the siege of
Constantinople. Michael had made preparations for sustain-
ing a long si^e, and Thomas committed a serious error in
attacking so strong a city, while the troops of the Armeniac
theme and of Opsikion were in sufficient strength in his rear
to interrupt his communications with the centre of Asia
Minor. These troops maintained a constant communication
with the garrison of Constantinople from the coast of Bithynia.
The army of Thomas, though very numerous, was in part
composed of an undisciplined rabble, whose plundering pro-
pensities increased the difficulty of obtaining supplies. On the
other hand, Constantinople, though closely invested, was well
supplied with all kinds of provisions and stores, the inhabitants
displayed gfreat firmness in opposing an enemy whom they
saw bent on plunder, and Michael and his son Theophilus
performed the duties of able generals. Two attempts were
made to storm the fortifications, one during the winter, in
821, and the other in the spring of 8aa ; both were equally
unsuccessful, and entailed considerable loss on the besiegers.
In the mean time the partisans of Michael collected a fleet of
350 ships in the islands of the Archipelago and Greece ; and
this force, having gained a complete victory over the fleet of
Thomas, cut off" the communications of the besiegers with Asia.
The Bulgarians, in order to profit by the civil war, invaded
the empire, and plundered the country from which the rebels
drew their supplies. Thomas marched to oppose them with a
part of his army, but was defeated, and lost the greater part
of his baggie. He was so much weakened by this defeat
that Michael sallied out from Constantinople, again routed
him, and compelled the rebel army to retire to Arcadiopolis,
where Thomas was soon closely besieged ^. For five months
» Genesiiu (19) and Georg. Mon. (in Scripi. post Thioph, 384) mention Arcadi-
K %
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132 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.in.51.
the place was obstinately defended, but at last Thomas was
delivered up by his own followers ; and his adopted son, who
had been invested with the title of Emperor, was captured
shortly after in Byza. Both were hanged after their limbs
had been cut off^ This junction of a son with the reigning
emperor as his successor had become a rule of the Byzantine
constitution, which was rarely neglected by any sovereign.
Two chiefs attached to the party of Thomas continued for
some time to defend the towns of Kabala and Saniana in Asia
Minor, until the latter place was betrayed by one who bar-
gained to be appointed archbishop of Neocaesarea, a fact
recorded in a satirical verse preserved by one of the Byzantine
historians ^.
This remarkable civil war lasted nearly three years, and is
distinguished by some features of unusual occurrence from
most of the great rebellions in the Byzantine empire. The
large fleets collected on both sides prove that the population
and wealth of the coasts and islands of the Archipelago had
not declined under the administration of the Iconoclasts,
though this part of the empire was likely to be least favoured
by the central power, as having attempted to dethrone Leo III.,
and having always firmly supported the party of the image-
worshippers ^ The most numerous partisans of Thomas, and
those who gave the strong revolutionary impulse to the rebel-
lion at its commencement, were that body of the Asiatic
population which national distinctions or religious opinions
excluded from participation in public and local affairs, and to
whom even the ecclesiastical courts were shut, on account of
their heretical opinions ; and to the ecclesiastical courts alone
recourse could be had for the equitable administration of
justice in some cases. The discontent of these classes, joined
to the poverty created by excessive taxation, supplied the army
of Thomas with those numerous bands of marauders, eager to
seek revenge, who spread desolation far and wide, alarmed ail
men possessing property, and ultimately ruined his enterprise.
opolis. Contin. (31) and the later writers, Cedrenus and Zonaras, say Adrianople.
Schlosser, 446, not€,
* Michaers own letter to Louis le D^bonnaire is the authority for this cruelty,
as well as the early historians. Baronius» uhi supra.
' Saniana was in the mountains of the theme Charsianon. Constant. Porj^yr.
De Them. lib. i. p. 11 ; De Adm. Imp. cap. 50; Contin., in Script, post Tksopk. 45.
f Contin. 40 ; Genesius, 18.
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The indiscipline of his troops, and his incapacity to apply any
remedy to the financial oppression and religious intolerance
against which the population of the Asiatic provinces had
taken up arms, alienated the minds of all who expected to
find in him an instrument for reforming the empire. But had
Thomas really been a man of a powerful mind, he might have
laid the foundation of a new state of society in the Eastern
Empire, by lightening the burden of taxation, carrying out
toleration for religious opinions, securing an impartial admin-
istration of justice even to heretics, and giving every class of
subjects, without distinction of nationality or race, equal
security for their lives and property. The spirit of the age
was, however, averse to toleration, and the sense of justice
was so defective that these equitable principles could only
have been upheld by the power of a well-disciplined mer-
cenary army.
The necessity of improving the condition of the people was
not felt by Michael II., even when this rebellion was sup-
pressed ; and though he saw that some reduction of taxation
to the lower classes was required, he restricted the boon to the
Anneniac theme and Opsikion, because these provinces had
not joined Thomas in the civil war^; and even in them he
only reduced the hearth-tax to one-half of the amount im-
posed by Nicephorus I. The rest of the empire was oppressed
more than usual, as a punishment. It is certain that this
unfortunate rebellion caused an immense destruction of pro-
perty in Asia Minor, and was no inconsiderable cause of the
accumulation of property in immense estates, which began to
depopulate the country, and prepare it for the reception of
a new race of inhabitants.
The state of society under every known government was at
this period troubled by civil wars. The seeds of these con-
vulsions may, therefore, be sought in some general cause
affecting the relations of the various classes of men in the
development of social progress, and so far it lay beyond the
immediate influence of the political laws of the respective
governments, whether Mohammedan or Christian. The frame
of society in the Saracen and Frank empires betrayed as
many signs of decay as in the Byzantine. One of the
" Continn in Script, post Theoph. 34; Theoph. 411.
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remarkable features of the age is the appearance of bands
of men, so powerful as to set the existing governments every-
where at defiance. These bands consisted in great part of
men of what may be called the middle and higher classes of
society, driven by dissatisfaction with their prospects in life to
seek Aeir fortunes as brigands and pirates ; and the extent to
which slavery and the slave-trade prevailed, afforded them
a ready means of recruiting their forces with daring and
desperate men. The feeling which in our days impels nations
to colonize new countries and improve uncultivated lands, in
the ninth century led the Saracens and Normans to ravage
every country they could enter, destroy capital, and conse-
quently diminish cultivation and population.
Crete and Sicily, two of the most valuable provinces of the
Byzantine empire, inhabited almost exclusively by Greeks,
and both in a high state of civilization and prosperity, were
conquered by the Saracens without offering the resistance
that might have been expected from the wealth and numbers
of the inhabitants. Indeed, we are compelled to infer that
the change from the orthodox sway of the emperors of Con-
stantinople to the domination of th; Mohammedans, was not
considered by the majority of the Greeks of Crete and Sicily
so severe a calamity as we generally believe. In almost
every case in which the Saracens conquered Christian nations,
history unfortunately reveals that they owed their success
chiefly to the favour with which their progress was regarded
by the mass of the people. To the disgrace of most Christian
governments, it will be found that their administration was
more oppressive than that of the Arabian conquerors. Op-
pression commenced when the rude tribes of the desert
adopted the corruptions of a ruling class. The inhabitants
of Syria welcomed the first followers of Mahomet ; the Copts
of Egypt contributed to place their country under the domina-
tion of the Arabs ; the Christian Berbers aided in the conquest
of Africa. All these nations were induced, by hatred of the
government at Constantinople, to place themselves under the
sway of the Mohammedans. The treachery of the nobles,
and the indifference of the people, made Spain and the south
of France an easy prey to the Saracens. The conquest of
Crete and Sicily must be traced to the same causes, for if the
mass of the people had not been indifferent to the change, the
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AJD. 830-829.]
Byzantine government could easily have retained possession of
these valuable islands. The same disgraceful characteristic of
Christian monarchies is also apparent at a much later period.
The conquest of the Greeks, Servians, and Vallachians by the
Othoman Turks was effected rather by the voluntary submis-
sion of the mass of the Christians than by the power of the
Mohammedans. This fact is rendered apparent by the
effective resistance offered by the Albanians under Scander-
b^. Church and state must divide between them this blot
on Christian society, for it is difficult to apportion the share
due to the fiscal oppression of Roman centralization and to
the unrelenting persecution of ecclesiastical orthodoxy.
Crete fell a prey to a band of pirates. The reign of Al
Hakem, the Ommiade caliph of Spain, was disturbed by con-
tinual troubles ; and some theological disputes having created
a violent insurrection in the suburbs of Cordova, about 15,000
Spanish Arabs were compelled to emigrate in the year 815.
The greater part of these desperadoes established themselves
at Alexandria, where they soon took an active part in the
civil wars of Egypt. The rebellion of Thomas, and the
absenoe of the naval forces of the Byzantine empire from the
Archipelago, left tiie island of Crete unprotected. The Anda-
lusian Arabs in Alexandria availed themselves of this circum-
stance to invade the island, and form a settlement on it, in the
year 823 ^ Michael was unable to expel these invaders, and
an event soon happened in Egypt which added greatly to the
strength of the Saracen colony. The victories of the lieute-
nants of the Caliph Almamun compelled the remainder of the
Andalusian Arabs to quit Alexandria ; and under the com-
mand of Abou Hafs, who collected forty ships, they joined
their countrymen in Crete, determined to make the new settle-
ment their permanent home 2. It is said by the Byzantine
writers that they commenced their conquest of the island by
destroying their fleet, and constructing a strong fortified camp,
surrounded by an immense ditch, from which it received the
name of Chandak, now corrupted by the Western nations into
Candia^ The construction of a new city, as the capital of
* Contin., in Script, post Tkeoph. 35, 47 ; <jenesius, ai. The Saracens are said
to have established themselves first at Suda.
* Abou Hafs is called by the Greeks Apochaps.
' The favourable disposition of a portion of the Cretans is indicated by the
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[Bk.l.Ch.ni.51.
their conquests, was part of the Saracen system of establishing
their domination. The foundation of Cairo, Cairowan, Fez,
Cufa, and Bagdad, was the result of this policy. A new state
of society, and new institutions, were introduced with greater
facility in a new residence.
The Saracen pirates derived some facilities towards render-
ing their conquests permanent, from the circumstance that
their bands generally consisted of young men, destitute of
domestic ties, who were seeking family establishments as well
as wealth. It was thus that they became real colonists, to
a much greater extent than is usually the case with conquerors
in civilized countries. The ease, moreover, with which the
Saracens, even of the highest rank, formed marriages with the
lower orders, and the equality which reigned among the fol-
lowers of the Prophet, presented fewer barriers to the increase
of their number than prevailed in the various orders and
classes of Byzantine society. The native population of Crete
was in a stationary, if not a declining condition, at the time
of the arrival of the Saracens, while these new colonists were
introduced into the country under circumstances extremely
favourable to a rapid increase of their numbers. History,
however, rarely enables us to mark, from age to age, the
increase and decrease of the different classes, tribes, and
nations concerning whose affairs it treats, though no fact is
more important to enable us to form a correct estimate of the
virtues and vices of society, to trace the progress of civilization,
and understand the foundations of political power.
The Emperor Michael II. was at length, by the defeat of
Thomas, enabled to make some attempts to drive the invaders
out of Crete. The first expedition was intrusted to the com-
mand of Photinos, general of the Anatolic theme, a man of
high rank and family; it was also strengthened by a reinforce-
ment under Damianos, count of the imperial stables and
protospatharios ; but this expedition was completely defeated.
Damianos was slain, and Photinos escaped with a single galley
to Dia. The second attack on the Saracens was commanded
tradition, that a native monk pomted out to the Saracens the site of Chandak ;
and the power of the islanders to have offered a more effectual resistance than
they did, is shown by one district obtaining leave to preserve its own laws and
usages, without any interference on the part of the Saracens. This was probably
Sphakia. Contin. 48; Genesius, ai.
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by Krateros, the general of the Kibyrraiot theme, who was
accompanied by a fleet of seventy ships of war. The Byzan-
tine historians pretend that their army was victorious in a
battle on shore, but that the Saracens, rallying during the
night, surprised the Christian camp, and captured the whole
fleet. Krateros escaped in a merchant vessel, but was pur-
sued and taken near Cos, where he was immediately crucified
by the Saracens.
The Saracens, having established their sovereignty over the
twenty-eight districts into which Crete was then divided, sent
out piratical expeditions to plunder the islands of the
Archipelago and the coasts of Greece. Michael, alarmed
lest more of his subjects should prefer the Saracen to the
Byzantine government, fitted out a well-appointed fleet to
cruise in the Aegean Sea, and named Oryphas to command
it. A squadron of well-appointed galleys having been
collected, the services of the best soldiers in the empire
were secured, by paying a bounty of forty byzants a man ;
and with this experienced body of warriors on board, the
Byzantine admiral scoured the Archipelago ^ The Saracen
pirates from Syria, Egypt, Africa, and Spain, who had been
stimulated by the successes of their countrymen to plunder
the Greeks, were pursued and destroyed ; but Oryphas was
unable to eff*ect Anything, when he attacked the Cretan
colony on shore ^. This fleet was subsequently neglected ;
and, in the first year of the reign of Theophilus, an imperial
squadron was totally destroyed by the Saracens, in a naval
engagement near Thasos, leaving the corsairs masters of the
sea. The islands of the Archipel^o were then plundered,
and immense booty in property and slaves was carried off*^.
The Saracens retained possession of Crete for one hundred
and thirty-five years.
The conquest of Sicily was facilitated by the treachery of
Euphemios, a native Greek of high rank, who is said to have
^ It is remarkable, as a proof of the relative value of money, that the price
of a substitute was fixed at 36 solidi by the Emperor Valens, a.d. 375. Cod,
Tktod. viL 13. 7. This shows how little change four centuries and a half had
made in the value of the circulating medium, and in the condition of the people
throughout the Eastern Elmpire. Genesius, 23. Undoubtedly gold and silver
mines must have been worked to a considerable extent, in order to maintain this
equilibrium.
* S3rmeoo Mag. 414. ' Con tin. 85.
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138 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.in.|r-
carried off a nun, and whom the emperor ordered to be
punished by the loss of his nose ; for though Michael himself
espoused Euphrosyne, the daughter of Constantine VI., after
she had taken the veil, he did not intend that any of his
subjects should be allowed a similar license. Euphemios was
informed of the emperor's order in time to save his nose, by
exciting a sedition in Syracuse, his native city^. In this
tumult, Gregoras the Byzantine governor was slain. Michael
then deputed Photinos, whose unsuccessful expedition to
Crete has been already mentioned, to supply the place of
Gregoras, and carry on the war against the Saracens of
Africa, whom Euphemios had already invited into Sicily, to
distract the attention of the Byzantine military. Ziadet
Allah, the Aglabite sovereign of Cairowan, had paid particular
attention to his fleet, so that he was well prepared to carry on
the war, and delighted to gain an entrance for his troops into
Sicily. In June 827 his admiral effected a junction with the
ships of Euphemios, who had been driven out of Syracuse, and
the Saracens landed at Mazara. Photinos was defeated in a
battle near Platana, and retreated to Enna. The Saracens
occupied Girgenti, but they were not strong enough to com-
mence offensive operations until the Byzantine fleet was
driven off the coast by the arrival of a squadron of ships from
Spain, which joined the Aglabites, and enabled fresh rein-
forcements to arrive from Africa. The war was then carried
on with activity: Messina was taken in 831; Palermo
capitulated in Ae following year; and Enna was besi^ed,
for the first time, in 836. The war continued with various
success, as the invaders received assistance from Africa, and
the Christians from Constantinople. The Byzantine forces
^ The story that Euphemios carried off a nun looks somethmg like an invention
of the orthodox, who wished to point out that the sin of Michael had been
punished by a divine judgment. John the Deacon, in his history of the Bishops
of Naples, only says Ihat he fled to Africa with his wife and son. Muratori,
Script, Rer, Italicarum^ i. pars 3, p. 313. Euphemios is said to have been killed
before the walls of Syracuse, as he was inviting the inhabitants to change the
oppressive government of the Byzantine emperors for the lighter yoke of the
Saracens. Cedrenus, ii. 512. [Amari, in his Storia dei Musuimani di SiciUa^ after
comparing the Italian, Byzantme, and Musulman accounts of the story of Euphe-
mios, shows that he had been involved in a rising of the discontented population,
and that his mairiage to a nun, the truth of which Amari allows, was made
a pretext for attack on the part of the Byzantine government (i. p. 349). Amari*s
book is of great importance for the history of the loss of Sicily to the Eastern
Empire. In chap. ix. of Book I. he gives an account of the condition of Sicily
under the Byzantme emperors. £0.]
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recovered possession of Messina, which was not permanently
occupied by the Saracens until 843, The Emperor Theo-
philus was too much engaged by his military operations in
Asia Minor to send effectual aid to the Sicilians^; while his
father Michael II. had been too fond of his ease on the throne
to devote the requisite attention to the business of the distant
provinces. Michael III. thought of nothing but his pleasures.
At length, in the year 859, Enna was taken by the Saracens.
Syracuse, in order to preserve its commerce from ruin, had
purchased peace by paying a tribute of 50,000 byzants ; and
it was not until the reign of Basil I., in the year 878, that it
was compelled to surrender, and the conquest of Sicily was
completed by the Arabs ^ Some districts, however, con-
tinued, either by treaty or by force of arms, to preserve
their municipal independence, and the exclusive exercise of
the Christian religion, within their territory, to a later
period ^
The loss of Crete and Sicily seems to have been viewed
with strange apathy by the court at Constantinople. The
reason of this is probably to be attnbuted to the circumstance
that the surplus revenue was comparatively small, and the
defence of these distant possessions required a military force
which could not always be spared from the neighbourhood of
the capital. The indifference of the statesmen of Constanti-
nople was doubtless increased by the circumstance that a
portion of the population, both in Crete and Sicily, had
acquired a degree of municipal independence, which rendered
it extremely adverse to the fiscal policy of the imperial
cabinet.
The bold and indefatigable abbot, Theodore Studita, still
struggled to establish the supremacy of the church over the
emperor in religious and ecclesiastical affairs. He appears to
deserve the credit of having discovered the necessity of
* Theophilus seems to have named his brother-in-law, Alexis Mousel, Strat^os
and Duke of Sicily, merely to send him into exile. Symeon Mag. 418.
' Ckronicon Sicvlum; Carusius, Bibliotheea Hist, Regni Siciliae, 6. Symeon Mag.
places the taking of Syracuse in the ninth year of Bi^il I., which would be nearly
two years earlier.
' The authorities for the conquest of Sicily are reviewed by Schlosser (Gesekichte
dtr bad. Kaiser, 455) and Weil {Geschichtt dmr Chalifen, ii. 249). The Byzantine
writers who lived nearest to the time conceal the facts, as the ultimate loss of
the island reflected disgrace on Basil I., the grandfather of their patron Con-
stantine VIL ^Porphyrogenitus).
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140 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.in.51.
creating a systematic restraint on the arbitrary authority of
the sovereign ; but his scheme for making the ecclesiastical
legislation superior to the executive power was defective,
inasmuch as it sought to confer on the church a more
irresponsible and dangerous authority than that of which the
emperor would have been deprived. Experience had not yet
taught mankind that no irresponsible power, whether it be
intrusted to king or priest, in a monarchy or a republic, can
be exercised without abuse. Until the law is superior to the
executive government, there is no true liberty; but in the
Byzantine empire the emperor was above the law, while the
imperial officials and the clergy had a law of their own, so
that the. people was doubly oppressed.
The conduct of Michael in conducting ecclesiastical business
indicates that he was not destitute of statesman-like qualities,
though he generally thought rather of enjoying his ease on
the throne than of fulfilling the duties of his high station \
During the civil war he was anxious to secure the good-will
of the monks and of the Greek party in the church. He
recalled Theodore from banishment, and declared himself in
favour of perfect toleration. This was far from satisfying the
enthusiastic abbot and the bigoted ecclesiastics. After the
establishment of tranquillity they incited the image-worshippers
to an open violation of the laws against presenting pictures to
the adoration of the people. Theodore also engaged with
fresh zeal in an extensive correspondence with all persons of
influence whom he knew to be favourable to his party. The
emperor ordered him to discontinue this correspondence, as of
a seditious tendency; but the bold abbot ventured to argue
the case with Michael himself in a long letter, which is pre-
served in his works *. *
The policy of forming friendly relations with the' western
nations of Europe was every day becomii^ more apparent to
the rulers of the Byzantine empire, as the political influence
of the Popes extended itself, and the power of the western
nations increased. Michael II., in order to prevent the
discontented image-worshippers from receiving support from
the Franks, opened negotiations with the Emperor Louis le
* ConstantiDe Porphyrogenitus accuses Midiael of neglecting the interests of
the empire in Dalmatia as much as in Sicily and Crete. Dt Adm, Imp, c. 29.
* S. Theod. Stud. Epist,, et alia Scripta Dogmatica, Paris, i696» lib. ii. ep. 199.
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D^bonnaire, in the hope of obtaining a condemnation of
image-worship, similar to that of Charlemagne. In the year
824, an embassy, bearing a vainglorious and bombastical
letter, announcing the defeat of Thomas, reached the court
of Louis ^. In this epistle Michael recapitulates the religious
principles which ought to guide the emperors of the Romans
in their ecclesiastical affairs. He alludes to the condemna-
tion of image-worship by the council of Frankfort, and
declares that he has not destroyed holy images and pictures,
but only removed them to such an elevation as was necessary
to prevent the abuses caused by popular superstition 2. He
considers the councils held for the condemnation of image-
worship merely as local synods, and fully recognises the
existence of a higher authority in general councils of the
church, giving, at the same time, his own confession of faith,
in terms which he knew would secure the assent of Louis and
the Frank clergy. He then solicits the Frank emperor to
induce the Pope to withdraw his protection from the rebellious
image-worshippers who had fled from the Byzantine empire to
Rome. A synod was convoked at Paris in consequence of
this communication, which condemned the worship of images
in the same terms as the Caroline Books, and blamed the
second council of Nicaea for the superstitious reverence it had
shown for images, but, at the same time, approved of the
rebuke given to the Eastern emperors, for their rashness in
removing and destroying images, by Pope Hadrian, a. d. 825.
The Emperor Louis was also requested by the synod to
forward a letter to Pope Eugenius, inviting him to write to
the Emperor Michael, in order to re-establish peace and unity
in the Christian church. But the Pope, the two emperors,
and Theodore Studita, were all afraid of plunging into
ecclesiastical discussions at this period ; for public opinion
had been so exercised in these polemics, that it was impos-
sible to foresee the result of the contest. Matters were
therefore allowed to go on during the reign of Michael
without any open rupture. The imprisonment of Methodios,
^ For this letter, see Baronius, torn. ix. a.d. 824; Coleti, Condi, ix. 642 ; Mansi,
Comtil. xiv. 419.
' Pictures were sometimes made godfathers and godmothers at the baptism of
children . The sacramental wine was mixed with paint scraped from the figures
of saints, and the consecrated bread was placed on the hand of the image to
nuke it co-partaker in the sacrament Neander, ill. 546.
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[Bk.I.Ch.in.$9.
afterwards Patriarch of Constantinople, and the condemnation
to death of Euthymios, bishop of Sardis, were the only acts
of extreme severity with which the image-worshippers could
reproach Michael ; and these seem to have originated from
political and party motives rather than from religious opinions,
though the zeal of these ecclesiastics rendered them eager to
be considered as martyrs \
The marriage of Michael with Euphrosyne, the daughter of
Constantine VI., who had already taken the veil, was also
made a ground for exciting public reprobation against the
emperor. It is probable, however, that more importance is
given to this marriage, as a violation of religion, by later
writers, than it received among contemporaries. The Patri-
arch absolved Euphrosyne from her vows, and the senate
repeatedly solicited the emperor to unite himself with the
last scion of Leo the Isaurian, the second founder of the
Eastern Empire. Michael affected to be averse to second
marriages, and to yield only to the public wish. That the
marriage of the emperor with a nun excited the animosity
of the monks, who r^arded marriage as an evil, and second
marriages as a delict, is very natural ; and it would, of course,
supply a fertile source of calumnious gossip to the enemies of
the Amorian dynasty.
Michael II. died in October 829, and his body, placed in a
sarcophagus of green Thessalian marble, was buried in the
sepulchral chapel erected by Justinian in the Church of the
Holy Apostles '.
Sect. W.—Theophilus, a. d. 829-842.
Anecdotes concerning the emperor's love of justice. — Concerning his marriage. —
Ecclesiastical persecution. — Love of art. — Colony on the Don. — Saracen
war. — ^Theophilus destroys 2^petra.— Motassem destroys Amorium. — ^Death
of Theophilus.
No emperor ever ascended the throne of Constantinople
with greater personal and political advantages than Theo-
philus. His education had been the best the age could
• Contin., in Script, pott Tkeopk, 31 ; Genesius, 33.
' Contin., in Script, post Theopk, 5 a.
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THEOPHILUS. 143
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supply, and he possessed considerable talent and great
industry. The general direction of his education had been
intrusted to John the Grammarian, one of the most accom-
plished as well as the most learned men of the time ^. In
arts and arms, in law and theology, the emperor was equally
well instructed : his taste made him a lover of poetry, music,
and architecture ; his courage rendered him a brave soldier,
his sense of justice a sound legislator : but his theology
made him a stem bigot ; and a discontented temperament of
mind prevented his accomplishments and virtues from pro-
ducing a harmonious union. All acknowledged his merit,
none seemed affectionately attached to his person ; and in the
midst of his power he was called the Unfortunate. During his
father's lifetime he had been intrusted with an active share in
the government, and had devoted particular attention to the
ecclesiastical department. He embraced the party of the
Iconoclasts with fervour ; and though his father endeavoured
to moderate his zeal, his influence seems to have produced
the isolated acts of persecution which occurred during the
reign of Michael, and were at variance with that emperor's
general policy,
Theophilus observed that the population of the empire was
everywhere suffering from the defects of the central govern-
ment, and he was anxious to remedy the evil. He erroneously
attributed the greatest part of the sufferings of the people to
the corruption of the administration, instead of ascribing it to
the fact that the central authorities assumed duties which
they were unable to execute, and prevented local bodies, who
could easily have performed these duties in an efficient
manner, from attempting to undertake them. Theophilus,
however, justly believed that a great reform might be effected
by improving the administration of justice, and he set about
the task with vigour ; still many of his measures for enforcing
equitable conduct on the part of the judges were so strongly-
marked with personality, that his severity, even when necessary
' John Hylilas, as has been already mentioned (p. 117), was called Lekanomant
b^ the people, because he was said to use a polished basin for the purpose of
divination. He was Patriarch of Constantinople from 83a to 843. He was
a member of the distinguished family of the Morocharzanians. Contin. 96;
Cedrenus, 536. Saint-Mutin conjectures that this family was of Armenian origin,
and his brother's name was Arsaber, which at least is an Armenian name.
Contin. 97 ; Le Bean, xiii. 14.
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[Bk.I.Ch.III.§a.
was stigmatized as cruel. He was in the habit of riding
through the streets of Constantinople on a weekly visit to the
church of St. Mary at Blachem, in order to afford his subjects
a public opportunity of presenting such petitions as might
otherwise never reach his hands ^. A similar practice is per-
petuated in the Othoman empire to this day. The sultan
pays a public visit to one of the principal mosques of his
capital weekly for the same purpose. In both cases it may
be received as a proof of the want of a better and more
systematic control over the .judicial administration of a mighty
empire. There was no emperor, to parade the streets of
provincial towns, where control was most wanted ; and there
is no substitute for the sultan's procession to the mosque in
the provincial cities of Turkey.
The first proof Theophilus gave of his love of justice was
so strangely chosen, that it was represented as originating in
the wish to get rid of some dangerous courtiers, rather than in
a sense of equity. He assembled the senate, and, exhibiting
to its astonished members the candelabrum of which one of
the branches had been struck off at the assassination of
Leo v., he demanded whether the laws of the empire and
divine justice did not both call for the punishment of the men
who had committed the double sacrilege of murdering their
emperor and shedding his blood before the altar. Some
senators, prepared for the scene, suggested that, in order
to avert the vengeance of heaven, it was necessary to put the
traitors to death. Theophilus immediately ordered the
prefect of Constantinople to arrest every person concerned in
Leo*s assassination and bring them to trial, whether they
belonged to the party of the image-worshippers or of the
Greek ecclesiastics. They were all convicted, and executed
in the Hippodrome, vainly protesting against the injustice of
their sentence, since their deed had been ratified and par-
doned by the Emperor Michael II., and the reigning emperor
confirmed that ratification by retaining the throne which he
occupied in virtue of their act ^.
Other examples of the emperor's severity were less liable to
suspicion. A poor widow accused Petronas, the emperor's
brother-in-law, an officer of talents and courage, of having,
* Contiii.. in Script, post Tkeoph. 53.
' JLeo Grammaticus, 449.
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in violation of law, raised his house so high as to render
hers almost uninhabitable from want of air and light. The
laws concerning the disposition of private buildings in Con-
stantinople were always regarded as an important object of
imperial legislation. Theophilus ordered the grievance to be
redressed ; but the complaint was subsequently reiterated,
and the emperor discovered that his brother-in-law had dis-
obeyed his decision. He now gave orders that the newly-
built house should be levelled with the ground, and condemned
Petronas to be scourged in the public highway 't Some time
after this, Petronas was appointed to the high post of
governor of Cherson, and during the reign of his nephew,
Michael III., he defeated the Saracens in an important battle
in Asia Minor, as will be hereafter related. This anecdote
illustrates the state of society at the Byzantine court, by the
contrast it presents between the servile feelings of the Romans
and Greeks of Constantinople, and the independent spirit of
the Franks and Germans of western Europe. In the Eastern
Empire the shame of blows was nothing, and a bastinado
inflicted on an emperors brother-in-law, who retained his
oflicial rank, was not likely to be a very painful operation.
The degradation of the punishment was effaced by the
arbitrary nature of the power that inflicted it. The sense
of justice inherent in mankind is always wounded by the
infliction of arbitrary punishment; cruelty or caprice are
supposed to dictate the sentence ; the public attention is
averted from the crime, and pity is often created when the
sufferer really deserves to be branded with infamy.
On another occasion, as Theophilus rode through the
streets, a man stepped forward, and, laying his hand on the
horse the emperor was riding, exclaimed, * This horse is mine,
O emperor I ' On investigating the circumstances, it appeared
that the horse had really been taken by force from its pro-
prietor by an officer of rank, who wished to present it to the
emperor on account of its beauty. This act of violence wps.
also punished, and the proprietor received two pounds' weight
* The law of Zeno, giving the rules to be followed in constructing private
houses at Constantinople, is contained in the Carpus Juris , Chilis j Cod. Juft,
▼iii. 10. 12, De Atdificiis Privatis, Dirksen has published a memoir containing
mudi information explanatory of this law, in the Transactions of the Berlin
Academy for 1^44: it is entitled. Das Polizei-Gesetz d$s Kaisers Zeno iiber die
bauliehe Ardage der Privathauser in ConstanlinofeJ,
^^^' ^^* ^ Digitized by GoOglC
146 ICONOCLAST PERIOD,
[Bk.I.Ch.in.§3.
of gold as an indemiiity for the loss he had sustained. The
horse was worth about one hundred byzants ^
Theophilus was also indefatigable in examining the police
details of the capital, and looking into the state of the
markets. It is true that the abundance of provisions, and
their price at Constantinople, was a matter of great import-
ance to the Byzantine government, which, like the Roman,
too often sacrificed the prosperity of the provinces to the
tranquillity of the capital ; yet still the minute attention which
Theophilus gave to performing the duties of a prefect, indicates
that he was deficient in the grasp of intellect required for
a clear perception of the duties of an emperor.
The reign of Theophilus was an age of anecdotes and tales.
It had many poetic aspirations, smothered in chronicles and
legends of saints. Volumes of tales were then current, which
would have given us a better insight into Byzantine manners
than the folios of the historians, who have preserved an
outline of a few of these stories. Theophilus seems to have
been a kind of Byzantine Haroun Al Rashid. Unfortunately
the Iconoclasts appear to have embodied more of this species
of literature in their habits than the orthodox, who delighted
in silly legends concerning saints rather than in imaginative
pictures of the deeds of men ; and thus the mirror of truth
has perished, while the fables that have been preserved are
neglected from their unnatural stupidity ^.
Theophilus was unmarried when he ascended the throne,
and he found difficulty in choosing a wife^ At last he
arranged with his stepmother, Euphrosyne, a project for
enabling him to make a suitable selection, or at least to make
his choice from a goodly collection. The empress-mother
invited all the most beautiful and accomplished virgins at
Constantinople to a f^te in her private apartments. When
the gaiety of the assembled beauties had removed their first
shyness, Theophilus entered the rooms, and walked forward
with a golden apple in his hand. Struck by the grace and
* Leo Gramm. 454. Seventy-two byzants were reckoned to the pound of gold.
* I presume few persons have now either time or opportunity to read much of
the Acta Sanctorum, fifty-three volumes of which were published at Antwerp from
164.^ to 1793. This onlv goes as far as the 14th of October; yet much of the
social hi^tory of the middle ages can be sought for in no other source.
' It seems probable he was a widower, from the age of his daughters. Se€
p. 154, «o/f a.
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beauty of Eikasia^ with whose features he must have been
already acquamted, and of whose accomplishments he had
often heard, he stopped to address her. The proud beauty
felt herself already an empress ; but Theophilus commenced
his conversation with the ungallant remark, 'Woman is the
source of evil ;' to which the young lady too promptly replied
* But woman is also the cause of much good.' The answer or
the tone jarred on the captious mind of the emperor, and he
walked on. His eye then fell on the modest features of the
young Theodora, whose eyes were fixed on the ground. To
her he gave the apple without risking a word. Eikasia, who
for a moment had felt the throb of gratified ambition, could
not recover from the shock. She retired into a monastery
which she founded, and passed her life dividing her time
between the practice of devotion and the cultivation of her
mind. She composed some hymns, which continued long in
use in the Greek church \ A short time after this, the
Empress Euphrosyne retired into the monastery of Gastria,
an agreeable retreat, selected also by Theoctista, the mother
of Theodora, as her residence ^.
Theodora herself is the heroine of another tale, illustrating
the corruption of the officials about the court, and the inflexible
love of justice of the emperor. The courtiers in the service
of the imperial family had been in the habit of drawing
large profits from evading the custom-duties to which other
traders were liable, by engaging the empress to participate
in their commercial adventures. The revenue of the state
and the commerce of the honest merchant both suffered by
this aristocratic mode of trading. Theophilus, who knew of
the abuse, learned that the young empress had been per-
suaded to lend her name to one of these trading speculations,
and that a ship, laden with a valuable cargo in her name,
was about to arrive at Constantinople. In order to put
an end to these frauds by a striking example, he took care
to be informed as this ship entered the port. When the
vessel arrived, it displayed the imperial standard, and stood
* Zonaras, ii. 141 ; Codinus, D# Orig, Const, 61, 204; Banduri, Imp, Oriintali,
ii. 717.
* Contin. 56. Gastria was certainly not selected as a place of exile, as modem
writers have supposed, or Euphrosyne would, in all probability, have been sent
back to the monastery in Prince's Island, which she had quitted to ascend the
throoe.
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148 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.C!uni.§a.
proudly towards the public warehouses with a fair wind.
Theophilus, who had led the court to a spot overlooking the
port, pretending to be struck by the gallant appearance of the
vessel, demanded with what military stores she was laden,
and whence she came. The truth was soon elicited, and when
he obtained a full confession of the nature of the cargo, he
ordered it to be landed and publicly burned ; for he said, it was
never heard that a Roman emperor or empress turned trader'.
The principles of toleration which guided the imperial
administration during the preceding reigns were not entirely
laid aside by Theophilus, and though his religious bigotry
was strong, he preferred punishing the image-worshippers
for disobedience to the civil laws to persecuting them for
their ecclesiastical opinions. The emperor's own prejudices
in favour of the divine right of kings were as intolerant as
his aversion to image-worship, so that he really acted as
much on political as religious grounds. His father had not
removed pictures from the walls of churches when they were
placed in elevated situations; and had Theophilus followed
his example, Iconoclasts and image-worshippers might at
last have accepted the compromise, and dwelt peaceably
together in the Eastern church. The monks, too, had been
wisely allowed considerable latitude within the walls of their
monasteries, though they were forbidden to preach publicly
to the people in favour of image-worship. Theophilus was
inclined to imitate the policy of Leo the Isaurian, but he
could not venture to dissolve the refractory monasteries and
imprison the monks. The government of the earlier Icono-
clasts reposed on an army organized by themselves, and ready-
to enforce all their orders; but in the time of Theophilus,
the army neither possessed the same power over society, nor
was it equally devoted to the emperor.
In the year 832, an edict was issued prohibiting every
display of picture-worship, and commanding that the word
holy, usually placed in letters of gold before the name of
a saint, should be erased. This edict was at times carried
into execution in an arbitrary and oppressive manner, and
caused discontent and opposition 2. A celebrated painter of
* Contin. 55 ; Zonaras. ii. 143. The reference to Syria by Zonaras is, as
Sdilosser observes, a mistake originating in the If obfiax of the elder historian.
* Contin. ^i ; Cedrenus, 514.
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ecclesiastical subjects, named Lazaros, who acquired great
fame during the reign of Michael III., was imprisoned and
scourged, but subsequently released from confinement at the
intercession of Theodora ^ Two monks, Theophanes the
Singer and Theodore Graptos, were much more cruelly
treated, for, in addition to other tortures, some verses were
branded on the forehead of Theodore, who from that circum-
stance received his surname of Graptos ^.
Some time after the publication of this edict against
image-worship, John the Grammarian was elected Patriarch.
Though a decided opponent of image-worship, he was a
man of a larger intellect and more tolerant disposition than
his imperial pupil, over whose mind, however, he fortunately
retained considerable influence^. Still, when the emperor
found his edict unavailing, he compelled the Patriarch to
assemble a synod, which was induced to excommunicate all
image-worshippers. As the Patriarch was averse to these
violent proceedings, it can hardly be supposed that they
produced much effect within the pale of the church; but
they certainly tended to inflame the zeal of those marked
out for persecution, and strengthened the minds of the orthodox
to perform what they considered to be their duty, arming
them with faith to resist the civil power. The spirit of
religious strife was awakened, and the emperor was so impru-
dent as to engage personally in controversies with monks
and priests. These discussions ruffled his temper and increased
his severity, by exposing his lofty pretensions, his dignity
and talents, to be slighted by men who gloried in displaying
their contempt for all earthly power. Theophilus sought
* Lazaros painted a picture of St. John the Baptist while he was suflfering from
the stripes he received, which was reported to have performed many miraculous
cures.
* Schlosser. Geschich/e der bild. Kaiser^ 533.
' The chronology of John's patriarchate presents some difficulties. Schlosser
places his election in 833 ; s9e his note, p. 486. Pagi and Banduri in 833 ; Imp,
Oriett. ii. 908. The length of his patriarchate is given differently in the various
lists we possess. Some fix it at nine years. Zonaras (ii. 153) says he was only
six j^ears Patriarch. Symeon Mag. (421) says he was elected the eighth year of
Theophilus. These two writers consequently place his election in 837. The
Contmuator {Script, post Theoph, 75) says he was elected on Sunday. 21st April.
Now it appears from VArt de Verifier In Dates that Easter Sunday fell on the
list of April in 832 and 838, and not in any intermediate year. The embassy of
John to Bagdad preceded his election. It is placed by Symeon Mag (419) "i the
fifth year of Theophilus. Weil {Oesehich^e der Chalifen, ii. 297) considers that it
occuired at the end of the year 833.
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revenge for his injured vanity. The monks who persisted
in publicly displaying images and pictures were driven from
their monasteries ; and many members of the clergy, dis-
tinguished for learning and beloved for virtue, were imprisoned
and scourged. Yet, even during the height of his resentment,
the emperor winked at the superstition of those who kept
their opinions private, tolerated the prejudices of the Empress
Theodora, and at her request released Methodios, the future
Patriarch of Constantinople, from prison ^.
The wealth of the Byzantine empire was at this period
very great, and its industry in the most flourishing condition.
Theophilus, though engaged in expensive and disastrous wars,
found the imperial revenues so much increased by the aug-
mented commerce of his subjects that he was able to indulge
an inordinate passion for pomp and display. His love of
art was gratified by the fantastic employment of rich materials
in luxurious ornament, rather than by durable works of useful
grandeur. His architectural taste alone took a direction at
times advantageous to the public. The walls of Constantinople
towards the sea were strengthened, and their height increased.
He founded a hospital, which remained one of the most
useful institutions of the city to the latest days of Byzantine
history 2 ; but, at the same time, he gratified his love of
display in architecture by constructing palaces, at an enormous
expense, in no very durable manner. One of these, built
in imitation of the great palace of the caliphs at Bagdad,
was erected at Bryas, on the Asiatic shore ^. The varied
form, the peculiar arches, the coloured decorations, the
mathematical tracery, and the rich gilding, had induced
John the Grammarian, when he visited the Caliph Motassem
as ambassador from Theophilus, to bring back drawings and
* Gibbon {Decline and Fall, vi. 92) has exaggerated the cruelty of the punish-
ments inflicted by Theophilus. S<irosser (524) remarks that he has found no
authority to authorize the reproaches of excessive tyranny. Even the Jesuit
Maimbourg {Hitoire de V Her hie des Iconoclastes, ii. 233) mentions the imprison-
ment of Methodios with a dead robber, and the branding verses on the foreheads
of Theodore and Theophanes (if the latter suffered this punishment), as the most
inhuman acts of Theophilus. Contin. 65.
The story that Theodora persuaded her husband to believe that some images
of saints in her possession were only dolls for her children's amusement, is a
popular anecdote more deserving of a place in the dull Legends of the Saints
than in the Byzantine court anecdotes.
'^ Codinus, De Orig. Const, 28; Banduri, Imp. Orient, ii. 648.
3 Contin. 61 ; Ducange, Const. Chrin. lib. iv. 177.
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plans of this building, which was totally different from the
Byzantine style. Other buildings constructed by Theophilus
are described by historians in a way that indicates they must
have been far superior in magnificence to the works of
preceding or following emperors ^.
Theophilus was also an enthusiastic admirer of music, and
as church-music was in his time one of the principal amuse-
ments of persons of taste, musical science was employed to
add to the grandeur and solemnity of ecclesiastical ceremonies.
In works of art, the emperor's taste appears not to have been
very pure. A puerile vanity induced him to lavish enormous
sums in fabricating goi^eous toys of jewellery. In these
ornaments, singular mechanical contrivances were combined
with rich figures to astonish the spectator. A golden plane-
tree, covered with innumerable artificial birds, that warbled
and fluttered their wings on its branches, vultures that
screamed, and lions that roared, stood at the entrance of the
hall of state. Invisible organs, that filled the ceilings of the
apartments with soft melody, were among the strange things
that Theophilus placed in the great palace of Constantinople.
They doubtless formed the theme of many Byzantine tales,
of which we still see a reflected image in the Arabian Nights ^.
Two laws of Theophilus deserve especial notice : one
exhibits him in the character of a capricious tyrant ; the other
reveals the extent to which elements adverse to Roman and
Greek nationality pervaded Byzantine society. The first of
these edicts ordered all the Romans — that is, all the subjects
of the empire — to wear their hair cropped short, under the
pain of the bastinado, Theophilus pretended that he wished
to restore old Roman fashions, but the world believed that
the flowing locks of others rendered him ashamed of his own
bald head. The other law declared that the marriage of
Persians and Romans did in no way derogate from the rights
of those who were citizens of the empire ; and it shows that a
very great emigration of Persian Christians from the dominions
^ Symeon Mag. (450) tells us that Leo, a great mathematician, invented a kind
of telegraph, with a dial, in the palace of Theophilus in Constantinople, which
report^ the news transmitted from the Cilician frontier by fire- signals to the
Bosphonis.
* Contin. 107; Leo Gramm. 450; Const. Manasses, 107; Glycas, 392; Ce-
drenns, Zonaras, and the later writers. Many of these works were executed under
the direction of John Hylilas and Leo the Mathematician.
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[Bk.I.Ch.III. §2.
of the caliphs must have taken place, or such a law would
not have become necessary. Theophobos, one of the most
distinguished leaders of the Persians, who claimed descent from
the Sassanides, married Helena, the emperor's sister *.
The wide extended frontiers of the empire required Theo-
philus to maintain relations with the sovereigns of a large
portion of Asia and Europe. To secure allies against his
great enemy, the Caliph of Bagdad, he renewed the ancient
alliance of the emperors of Constantinople with the sovereign
of the Khazars ; but this people was now too much occupied
in defending its own territories against a new race of intruders,
called Patzinaks, to renew their invasions of the northern
provinces of the Mohammedan empire. The progress of the
Patzinaks alarmed Theophilus for the security of the Byzan-
tine commerce with the northern nations, from which the
imperial treasury drew immense duties; and he sent his
brother-in-law Petronas (whom, as we have mentioned, he
had condemned to be scourged) to- Cherson, which was then
a free city like Venice, with orders to construct a fortress for
the protection of a commercial settlement on the banks of the
Don. This colony, called Sarkel, was the principal dep6t of
the Byzantine trade with the nations to the north of the Black
Sea^. A friendly intercourse was kept up with Louis le
D^bonnaire and his son, Lothaire. The Venetians were
invited to assist in the naval war for the defence of Sicily
and southern Italy against the Saracens of Africa ^. An
embassy was sent to Abderrahman II., the caliph of Spain, to
secure the commerce of the Greeks in the West from any
interruption, and to excite the Ommiad caliph to hostilities
against the Abassides of Bagdad *.
When Theophilus ascended the throne, the Byzantine and
Saracen empires enjoyed peace ; but they were soon involved
in a fierce contest, whidi bears some resemblance to the
* Contin. 67-70.
* Cherson is now regaining its ancient celebrity and importance as Sebastopol.
It was then governed by a president and senate, elected by the citizens, and no
governor was sent from Constantinople. Theophilus succeeded in reducing it
to complete dependence. Contin. 76; Constant. Porph)rr. Be Adm, Imp, ii.
c 42. Sarkel is supposed to have been at Bielaveja, near Tcherkmsk, the capital
of the Don Cossacks. Lehrberg, Untersuchungen zttr Erlattienmg der alUm
Geschichte Russlands, Petersburg. i«i'^; Cedrenus, 415.
' Dandolu. Chron. viii. 4. 6, m Muratori, torn. i.
* Murphy's History of the Mohammsdan Empire in Spain, 93 ; A, D. 839.
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mortal combat between the Roman and Persian empires in
the time of Heraclius. Almamun, who ruled the caliphate
from 813 to 833, was a magnificent and liberal sovereign,
distinguished for his love of science and literature, and eager
to surpass the Greeks in knowledge and the Romans in arms.
Though not himself a soldier, his armies were commanded by
several celebrated generals. The want of a moral check on
the highest officials of arbitrary governments usually prevents
the existence of a sense of duty in political relations, and
hence rebellions and civil wars become prevalent. In the
reign of Almamun, the disturbances in Persia reduced the
j>opulation, whether fire-worshippers or Christians, to despair ;
and a great number, unable to live in their native country,
escaped into the Byzantine empire, and established themselves
at Sinope. This immigration seems to have consisted chiefly
of Christians, who feared equally the government of Almamun
and of the rebel Babek, who, though preaching the equality
of all mankind, was accused of allowing every license to his
own followers. The Persian troops at Sinope were placed
under the command of Theophobos, and their number was
increased by an addition of seven thousand men who joined
them when Afshin, the general of the Caliph Motassem,
defeated Babek, and extinguished the civil war in Persia ^.
The protection granted by Theophilus to refugees from the
caliph s dominions, induced Almamun to invade the empire in
the year 831 ; and the Saracen general, Abu Chazar, com-
pletely defeated the Byzantine army, commanded by Theo-
philus in person. The emperor repaired this disgrace in the
following year by gaining a victory over the Saracens in
Charsiana, which he celebrated with great pomp and vainglory
in the hippodrome of Constantinople ^. Almamun revenged
the defeat of his generals by putting himself at the head of his
army, ravaging Cappadocia, and capturing Heracleia.
* The Babek who is said by the Byzantine historians to have fled into the
empire with seven thousand followers, was certainly a different person from the
celebrated leader of the rebellion. The arrival of this refugee is placed before
the commencement of the war between Theophilus and Almamun, a.d. 831. The
Cat rebel Babek sustained an inoportant oefeat in 833, when many of his fol-
rers fled into Armenia and the Byzantine provinces, according to the Arabian
historians; but he still continued the war in Adzerbijan. Compare Contin. 70;
Symeon Mag. 415; Cedrenus, ii. 533; and Weil, GetchichU der Chalifen, ii. 339.
* Constant. Porphyr. De Caeremoniis Aulas Byzantinae, i. 503, edit. Bonn. Reiske
considers that this account of the triumph of Theophilus refers to his return after
the destruction of Zapetra ; ii. 590.
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The armies of the Byzantine empire consisted in great part
of foreign mercenaries. Some secondary causes, connected
with the development of society, which have escaped the
notice of historians, operated to render the recruitment of
armies more than usually difficult among the civilized portions
of mankind, and caused all the powerful sovereigns of the age
to exclude their native subjects as much as possible from the
use of arms. In the Saracen empire this feeling led to the
transference of all military power into the hands of Turkish
mercenaries ; and in the Frank empire it led to the exposure
of the country, without defence, to the incursions of the
Normans. It is true that jealousy of the Arab aristocracy in
one case, and fear of the hostile disposition of the Romanized
population in the other, had considerable influence on the
conduct of the caliphs and of the Western emperors. The
Byzantine empire, though under the influence of similar
tendencies, was saved from a similar fate by a higher d^jree
of political civilization. The distrust of Theophilus for his
generals was shown by the severity with which he treated
them. Manuel, one of the best officers of the empire,
disgusted at his suspicions, fled to the Saracens, and served
with distinction in their armies against the rebels of Chor-
asan^. Alexios Mousel, an Armenian, who received the
favourite daughter of Theophilus in marriage, with the rank of
Caesar, was degraded and scourged in consequence of his
father-in-law's suspicions ^.
Immediately after the death of Almamun, the emperor
sent John the Grammarian on an embassy to Motassem, who
succeeded his brother as caliph. The object of this embassy
was to conclude a lasting peace, and at all events to persuade
Manuel, whose fame in the war of Chorasan had reached the
ears of Theophilus, to return home. With the caliph the
* See the romantic account of the exploits of Manuel, which, as they set chro-
nology at defiance, cannot be receivj^ as historical. Contin. 74; Cedrenus,
ii. 527-
* It would seem that Theophilus had been married before his father's death.
Maria, the wife of Alexios, was the youngest of five daughters, and her marriage,
even according to Symeon Mag., who says she was the daughter of Theodora,
took place in the third year of the reign of Theophilus (417, 418). We must
suppose that both the wives of Theophilus were named Theodora, and that he
was a widower at his father's death, after which he married the second. But
even then difficulties will be found, and the chronology of this period is singularly
confused. Thekla, the eldest daughter of Theophilus, received the imperial title
from her father before the birth of Michael III.
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negotiations appear not to have been as successful as the
emperor expected, but with Manuel they succeeded perfectly.
The magnificence of John on this occasion gave rise to many
wonderful tales, and the Greeks were long amused by the
accounts of the marvellous wealth displayed by the priestly
ambassador.
Not very long after this embassy, Theophilus, availing
himself of the troubles occasioned in the caliph's dominions
by the civil wars arising out of the heretical opinions concern-
ing the human composition of the Koran, which had been
favoured by Almamun, invaded the caliph's dominions. The
Byzantine troops ravaged the country to the south of
Melitene, anciently called Commagene, defeated the Saracens
with great loss, captured Zapetra, and penetrated as far as
Samosata, which Theophilus also took and destroyed. Zape-
tra, or Sosopetra, lay about two days' journey to the west of
the road from Melitene to Samosata^. The Greeks pretended
that it was the birthplace of Motassem, and that the caliph
sent an embassy to the emperor entreating him to spare the
town, which he offered to ransom at any price; but Theophilus
dismissed the ambassadors, and razed Zapetra to the ground^.
This campaign seems to have been remarkable for the cruelty
with which the Mohammedans were treated, and the wanton
ravages committed by the Persian emigrants in the Byzantine
service. The Saracens repeated one of the tales in connection
with this expedition which was current among their country-
men, and applied, as occasion served, from the banks of the
Guadalquivir to those of the Indus. In Spain it was told of
Al Hakem, in Asia of Motassem. A female prisoner, when
insulted by a Christian soldier, was reported to have exclaimed
in her agony, 'Oh, shame on Motassem ^ ! ' The circumstance
was repeated to the caliph, who learned at the same time that
the unfortunate woman was of the tribe of Hashem, and
consequently, according to the clannish feelings of the
Arabs, a member of his own family. Motassem swore by
* Abulfeda, cited by Weil, ii 309. note 2.
* Contin. 77. Genesios (^31) says it was the birthplace of Motassem*s mother.
Syineon Mag. (421) places the destruction of Zapetra in the seventh year of
llieophilus.
* Gibbon, vl 413, edit. Smith. The story, as told of Motassem, is given by
Price, Mohammedan History, ii. 147; as told of Al Hakem, by Murphy, History
of the Mohammedan Empire in Spainf 90.
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156 ICONOCLAST PERIOD,
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the Prophet he would do everything in his power to revenge
her.
In the mean time Theophilus, proud of his easy victories,
returned to Constantinople, and instead of strengthening his
frontier, and placing strong garrisons near the mountain-passes,
brought his best troops to Constantinople to attend on his
own person. As he entered the hippodrome in a chariot
drawn by four white horses, wearing the colours of the blue
faction, his happy return was hailed by the people with loud
shouts. His welcome was more like that of a successful
charioteer than of a victorious general.
The Persian mercenaries, whose number had now increased
to thirty thousand, were placed in winter-quarters at Sinope
and Amastris, where they began to display a seditious spirit ;
for Theophilus could neither trust his generals nor acquire the
confidence of his soldiers. These mercenaries at last broke
out into rebellion, and resolved to form a Persian kingdom
in Pont us. They proclaimed their general Theophob9s king ;
but that officer had no ambition to insure the ruin of his
brother-in-law's empire by grasping a doubtful sceptre ; and
he sent assurances to Theophilus that he would remain faithful
to his allegiance, and do everything in his power to put an
end to the rebellion. Without much difficulty, therefore,
this army of Persians was gradually dispersed through the
different themes, but tranquillity was obtained by sacrificing
the efficiency of one of the best armies in the empire.
Motassem, having also re-established tranquillity in the
interior of his dominions, turned his whole attention to the
war with the Byzantine empire. A well-appointed army of
veterans, composed of the troops who had suppressed the
rebellion of Babek, was assembled on the frontiers of Cilicia,
and the caliph placed himself at the head of the army, on the
banks of the Cydnus, in the year 838 ^. A second army of
thirty thousand men, under Afshin, advanced into the empire
at a considerable distance to the north-east of the grand army,
under the immediate orders of the caliph. Afshin had sup-
* Contin. 78; Symeon Mag. 423. This last places the defeat of Theophilus
and the death of Manuel m the ninth year of Theophilus, and the taking of
Amorium in the tenth. The reign of Theophilus commenced in October 829,
They evidently occurred in one campaign, and the Arabian historians give the
23rd September 838 as the date of the capture of Amonum. Weil, ii. 315.
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pressed the rebellion of Babek after it had lasted twenty
years, and was considered the ablest general of the Saracens.
On hearing that the army of Afshin had invaded Lykandos,
Theophilus intrusted the defences of the Cilician passes, by
which the caliph proposed to advance, to Actios, the general
of the Anatolic theme, and hastened to stop the progress of
Afshin, whose army, strengthened by a strong body of Arme-
nians under Sembat the native governor of the country, and
by ten thousand Turkish mercenaries, who were then con-
sidered the best troops in Asia, was overrunning Cappadocia.
Theophilus, apprehensive that this army might turn his flank,
and alarmed lest the Armenians and Persians, of which it was
part composed, might seduce those of the same nations in his
service, was anxious to hasten an engagement. The battle
was fought at Dasymon, where the Byzantine army, com-
manded by Theophobos and Manuel, under the immediate
orders of Theophilus, attacked the Saracens. The field was
fiercely contested, and for some time it seemed as if victory
would favour the Christians ; but the admirable discipline of
the Turkish archers decided the fate of the day. In vain the
emperor exposed his person with the greatest valour to recover
.the advantage he had lost ; Manuel was compelled to make
the most desperate efforts to save him, and induce him to
retreat. The greater part of the Byzantine troops fled from
the field, and the Persian mercenaries alone remained to
guard the emperor^s person. During the night, however,
Theophilus was informed that the foreigners were negotiating
with the Saracens to deliver him up a prisoner, and he was
compelled to mount his horse, and ride almost unattended to
Chiliokomon, where a portion of the native troops of the
empire had rallied \ From thence he retired to Dorylaeum,
where he endeavoured to assemble an army to defend Amo-
rium. Manuel died of the wounds he received in saving the
emperor.
While Theophilus was marching to his defeat, the advanced
guard of the caliph's army, under Ashnas'-^ and Wassif,
threaded the Cilician passes in the direction of Tyana ; and
Actios, unable to resist their advance, allowed the main body
* Strabo, xii. p. 561. North of Amasia. the native place of the geographer.
» Ashnas was a Turk. Motassem had collected at this time about 70,000 Turks
in his service. Weil, ii. 504.
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of the Saracens to penetrate into the central plains of Asia
Minor without opposition. Abandoning the whole of the
Anatolic theme to the invaders, he concentrated his forces
under the walls of Amorium. After ravaging Lycaonia and
Pisidia, Motassem marched to besiege Amorium. The capture
of this city, as the birthplace of the Amorian dynasty, had
been announced by the caliph to be the object of the cam-
paign; and it was said that 130,000 men had marched out
of Tarsus with AMORIUM painted on their shields. Motassem
expected to carry the place by assault; and the defeat of
Theophilus by his lieutenants inspired him with the hope
of carrying his arms to the shores of the Bosphorus, and
plundering the Asiatic suburb of Constantinople. But all his
attempts to storm Amorium, though repeated with fresh
troops on three successive days, were defeated by Actios, who
had thrown himself into the city with the best soldiers in his
army, and the caliph found himself obliged to commence
a regular siege. Theophilus now sued for peace. The bishop
of Amorium and the leading citizens offered to capitulate, for
the numerous army within the walls soon exhausted the
provisions. But Motassem declared that he would neither
conclude a peace nor grant terms of capitulation ; vengeance
was what he sought, not victory. Amorium was valiantly
defended for fifty-five days, but treachery at length enabled
the caliph to gratify his passion, just as he was preparing to
try the fortune of a fourth general assault. The traitor who
sold his post and admitted the Saracens into the city was
named Voiditzes. In this case both the Christian and Moham-
medan accounts agree in ascribing the success of the be-
siegers to treason in the Christian ranks, and the defence
appears to have been conducted by Actios both with skill
and valour ^ The cruelty of Motassem far exceeded that of
Theophilus. Thirty thousand persons were massacred, and the
inhabitants who were spared were sold as slaves. The city of
Amorium was burned to the ground, and the walls destroyed.
The ambassadors sent by Theophilus to b^ for peace had
been detained by the caliph, to witness his conquest. They
were now sent back with this answer, * Tell your master that
I have at last discharged the debt contracted at Zapetra.'
» Contin. 81.
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Motassem, however, perceived that a considerable change
had taken place in the empire since the days in which the
Saracens had besieged Constantinople. He did not consider
it prudent to approach the shores of the Bosphorus, but
returned to his own dominions, carrying with him Actios and
forty officers of rank captured in Amorium. For seven years
these men were vainly urged to embrace the Mohammedan
faith ; at last they were put to death by Vathek, the son of
Motassem, and they are regarded as martyrs by the orthodox
church '. Theophilus is said to have offered the Caliph
Motassem the sum of 2400 lb. of gold to purchase peace and
the deliverance of all the Christians who had been taken
prisoner during the war ; but the caliph demanded in addition
that a Persian refugee named Naser, and Manuel, of whose
death he appears not to have been assured, should also be
given up. Theophilus refused to disgrace himself by delivering
up Naser, and the treaty was broken off. Naser was shortly
after killed in an engagement on the frontier.
The war was prosecuted for some years in a languid manner,
and success rather inclined to the Byzantine arms. The port
of Antioch, on the Orontes, was taken and plundered by
a Greek fleet ; the province of Melitene was ravaged as far
as Marash; Abou Said, who had defeated and slain Naser,
was in turn himself defeated and taken prisoner. At last
a truce seems to have been concluded, but no exchange of
prisoners took place ^.
Theophilus never recovered from the wound his pride
received at Amorium. The frequent defeats he sustained in
those battles where he was personally engaged, contrasted
with the success of his generals, rankled in his. melancholy
disposition. His sensitive temperament and the fatigues of
his campaigns undermined his health. To divert his mind,
he indulged his passion for building ; and so great were the
resources of the Byzantine treasury, that even at this period
of misfortune he could lavish enormous sums in unprofitable
magnificence. It would have been well, both for him and for
the Christian world, had he employed some of this wealth at
an earlier period in fortifying the frontier and diminishing the
* Their martyrdom is celebrated on the 6th March. It occurred in 845. Meno-
Weil. u. 343.
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logium Grtucorum^ iii. 7.
• No exchange of prisoners took place imtil September 845. Weil, ii. 343,
l6o ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.in. §a.
burden of the land-tax. He now erected a new chapel called
Triconchos, a circus for public races, a staircase called Sig^ma,
a whispering gallery called the Mystery, and a magnificent
fountain called Phiala^ But the emperor's health continued
to decline, and he perceived that his end was not very
distant.
Theophilus prepared for death with courage, but with that
suspicion which disgraced his character. A council of regency
was named to assist Theodora. His habitual distrust induced
him to fear lest Theophobos might seize the throne by means
of the army, or establish an independent kingdom in the
Armeniac theme by means of the Persian mercenaries. The
conspiracy on the night after the defeat at Dasymon had
augmented the jealousy with which the emperor regarded his
brother-in-law ever after the rebellion of the Persian troops at
Sinope and Amastris. He now resolved to secure his son's
throne at the expense of his own conscience, and ordered
Theophobos to be beheaded. Recollecting the fortune of his
father, and the fate of Leo the Armenian, he commanded the
head of his brother-in-law to be brought to his bedside. The
agitation of the emperor's mind, after issuing this order,
greatly increased his malady; and when the lifeless head of
his former friend was placed before him, he gazed long and
steadily at its features, his mind doubtless wandering over the
memory of many a battle-field in which they had fought
together. At last he slowly exclaimed, * Thou art no longer
Theophobos, and I am no more Theophilus:' then, turning
away his head, he sank on his pillow, and never again opened
his lips.
* Contin. 63, 86 ; Symeon Mag 424. An account of the buildings of Theo-
philus will be found in Schnaase's Geschichfe der hildenden Kunste im Miiielalier.
Altchristliche und Mohammedaniscke Kunsi, i. 151 (vol. iii. of the complete work).
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REGENCY OF THEODORA. l5r
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Sect. \\\.— Michael III. {the Drunkard), A.D. 842-867.
Regency of Theodora. — Moral and religious reaction. — Restoration of image-
worship. — Rebellion of the Sclavonians in the Peloponnesus. — Saracen war.
— Persecution of the Paulicians. — Personal conduct of Michael III. — Wealth
in the treasury. — Bardas. — Ignatios and Photius. — Origin of papal authority
in the church. — General council in 861. — Bulgarian war. — Saracen War. —
Victory of Petronas. — Russians attack Constantinople.— State of the court.
— Assassinations. — Origin of the tale of Belisarius. — Assassination of Michael
in. by Basil the Macedonian.
Michael the son of Theophilus was between three and four
years old when his father died. His mother Theodora, having
been crowned empress, was regent in her own right. The will
of her husband had joined with her, as a council of administra-
tion, Theoktistos, the ablest statesman in the empire ; Manuel,
the uncle of the empress ; and Bardas, her brother ^. Thekla,
an elder sister of Michael, had also received the title of
Empress before her father's death.
The great struggle between the Iconoclasts and the image-
worshippers was terminated during the regency of Theodora,
and she is consequently regarded by the orthodox as a pattern
of excellence, though she countenanced the vices of her son
by being present at his most disgraceful scenes of debauchery.
The most remarkable circumstance, at the termination of this
long religious contest, is the immorality which invaded all
ranks of society. The strict morality and religious sincerity
which, during the government of the early Iconoclasts, had
raised the empire from the vei^e of social dissolution to
dignity and strength, had subsequently been supplanted by
a d^^ee of cant and hypocrisy that became at last intolerable.
The sincerity of both the ecclesiastical parties, in their early
contests, obtained for them the respect of the people; but
when the political question concerning the subjection of the
ecclesiastical to the civil power became the principal object of
dispute, official tyranny and priestly ambition only used a
hypocritical veil of religious phrases for the purpose of con-
cealing their interested ends from popular scrutiny. As usual,
* Theoktistos was a eunuch, and held the office of logothetes of the dromos, —
a kind of postmaster-general. He was made kanicleios, or keeper of the purple
ink, with which the emperor signed his name to official documents. The post-
master was a most important officer in the Saracen as well as in the Byzantine>
empire at this time.
VOL. II. M
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the people saw much farther than their rulers supposed, and
the consequence was that, both parties being suspected of
hypocrisy, the influence of true religion was weakened and
the most sacred ties of society rent asunder. The Byzantine
clergy showed themselves ready on all occasions to flatter the
vices of the civil government : the monks were eager for
popular distinction, and acted the part of demagogues ; while
servile prelates and seditious monks were both equally indif-
ferent to alleviating the people's burdens.
Every rank of society at last proclaimed that it was weary
of religious discussion and domestic strife. Indifference to
the ecclesiastical questions so long predominant, produced
indifference to religion itself, and the power of conscience
became dormant ; enjoyment was soon considered the object
of life; and vice, under the name of pleasure, became the
fashion of the day. In this state of society, of which the
germs were visible in the reign of Theophilus, superstition was
sure to be more powerful than religion. It was easier to pay
adoration to a picture, to reverence a relic, or to observe
a ceremony, than to regulate one's conduct in life by the
principles of morality and the doctrines of religion. Pictures,
images, relics and ceremonies became consequently the great
objects of veneration. The Greek population of the empire
had identifled its national feelings with traditional usages
rather than with Christian doctrines, and its opposition to the
Asiatic puritanism of the Isaurian, Armenian, and Amorian
emperors, ingrafted the reverence for relics, the adoration of
pictures, and the worship of saints, into the religious fabric of
the Eastern church, as essentials of Christian worship. What-
ever the church has gained in this way, in the amount of
popular devotion, seems to have been lost to popular morality.
The senate possessed considerable influence in administra-
tive business. It was called upon to ratify the will of Theo-
philus, and a majority of its members were gained over to the
party of the empress, who was known to favour image-worship\
The people of Constantinople had always been of this party;
and the Iconoclasts of the higher ranks, tired of the persecu-
tions which had been the result of the ecclesiastical quarrel,
desired peace and toleration more than victory. The Patriarch,
* Contin. 85.
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John the Grammarian, and some of the highest dignitaries in
the church, were, nevertheless, conscientiously opposed to a
species of devotion which they thought too closely resembled
idolatry, and from them no public compliance could be ex-»
pected. Manuel, however, the only member of the regency
who had been a fervent Iconoclast, suddenly abandoned the
defence of his opinions ; and his change was so unexpected
that it was reported he had been converted by a miracle. A
sudden illness brought him to the point of death, when the
prayers and the images of the monks of Studion as suddenly
restored him to health. Such was the belief of the people
of Constantinople, and it must have been a belief extremely
profitable to the monks.
It .was necessary to hold a general council in order to effect
the restoration of image-worship ; but to do this as long as
John the Grammarian remained Patriarch was evidently im-
possible. The regency, however, ordered him to convoke a
synod, and invite to it all the bishops and abbots sequestered
as image-worshippers, or else to resign the patriarchate. John
refused both commands, and a disturbance occurred, in which
he was wounded by the imperial guards. The court party
spread a report that he had wounded himself in an attempt to
commit suicide — the greatest crime a Christian could commit.
The great mechanical knowledge of John, and his studies in
natural philosophy, were already considered by the ignorant
as criminal in an ecclesiastic ; so that the calumnious accusa-
tion, like that already circulated of his magical powers, found
ready credence among the orthodox Greeks. The court seized
the opportunity of deposing him. He was first exiled to a
monastery, and subsequently, on an accusation that he had
picked out the eyes in a picture of a saint, he was scourged,
and his own ty^ were put out. His mental superiority was
perhaps as much the cause of his persecution as his religious
opinions.
Methodios, who had been released from imprisonment by
Theophilus at the intercession of Theodora, was named Patri-
arch, and a council of the church was held at Constantinople
in 842, to which all the exiled bishops, abbots, and monks who
had distinguished themselves as confessors in the cause of
ims^e-worship were admitted. Those bishops who remained
firm to their Iconoclastic opinions were expelled from their
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[Bk.I.Ch.III. §3,
sees, and replaced by the most eminent confessors. The
practices and doctrines of the Iconoclasts were formally ana-
thematized, and banished for ever from the orthodox church.
A crowd of monks descended from the secluded monasteries
of Olympus, Ida, and Athos\ to revive the enthusiasm of the
people in favour of images, pictures, and relics ; and the last
remains of traditional idolatry were carefully interwoven with
the established religion in the form of the legendary history
of the saints^.
A singular scene was enacted in this synod by the Empress
Theodora. She presented herself to the assembled clergy,
and asked for an act declaring that the church pardoned all
the sins of her deceased husband, with a certificate that divine
grace had effaced the record of his persecutions. When she
saw dissatisfaction visible in the looks of a majority of the
members, she threatened, with frank simplicity, that if they
would not do her that favour, she would not employ her in-
fluence as empress and regent to give them the victory over
the Iconoclasts, but would leave the affairs of the church in
their actual situation. The Patriarch Methodios answered,
that the church was bound to employ its influence in relieving
the souls of orthodox princes from the pains of hell, but, un-
fortunately, the prayers of the church'had no power to obtain
forgiveness from God for those who died without the pale of
orthodoxy. The church was only intrusted with the keys of
heaven to open and shut the gates of salvation to the living —
the dead were beyond its help. Theodora, however, deter-
* [It does not seem strictly accurate to speak of monasteries as existing on
Athos at this time. In the passage of Genesius here referred to, only monks and
not monasteries are mentioned. And though several of the Athos monasteries
at the present day claim an earlier date for their foundation, yet the earliest con-
temporary evidence on the subject is of the year a.i>. 885, when the Emperor
Basil the Macedonian issued a rescript, forbidding the inhabitants of the neigh-
bouring country to disturb the * holy hermits.' At that time these monks were
dependent on a monastery at Hierissus (Erisso), a restriction on their freedom
which was removed by the next emperor, Leo the PhilosoiJier ; and from the fact
that in his rescript they are still termed hermits (oi t<^v h^ynKhv fiiw kXSfMPot"^,
we may conclude that no monastery had yet been founded. Very shortly afterwards,
however, and perhaps in consequence of the removal of this restriction, such a
society must have been formed, for in 924 a golden bull of Romanus Lecaptenus
speaks of the restoration by that emperor of the monastery of Xeropotamu. which
had been destroyed by the Saracens, and was now rebuilt. See Gass, De eltxustri$
in MoHi$ Atho sitis eommentcuio historica, p. 6. The Olympus mentioned in the
text, though called by Genesius * the celebrated Mount Olympus,* is undoubtedly
the Bithynian mountain. Ed.]
. * Genesius, 39.
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mined to secure the services of the church for her deceased
husband. She declared that in his last agony Theophilus had
received and kissed an image she laid on his breast. Although
it was more than probable that the agony had really passed
before the occurrence happened, her statement satisfied Me-
thodios and the synod, who consented to absolve their dead
emperor from excommunication as an Iconoclast, and admit
him into the bosom of the orthodox church, declaring that,
things having happened as the Empress Theodora certified
in a written attestation, Theophilus had found pardon from
Godi.
The victory of the image-worshippers was celebrated by the
installation of the long-banished pictures in the church of
St. Sophia, on the 19th February 84:^, just thirty days after
the death of TTieophilus^ This festival continues to be ob-
served in the Greek church as the feast of orthodoxy on the
first Sunday of Lent^
The first military expedition of the regency was to repress
* Contin. 9c.
* Pagi ad Baron., a.d. 843. The Patriarch Methodiosdid not escape the calumny
which had been employed by his partisans against his predecessor. An accusation
of adultery was brought against lum, but the Patriarch is said to have proved its
falsity to the assembled clergy in a singular manner. Contin. 99.
" [At the end of this controversy it is interesting to enquire, how the present
Tiew of the Eastern Church on the subject grew up. It is well known that that
communion at the present day proscribes statues (d^'JA/iara), while pictures, or
icons, (cItokci) are universally revered. But throughout the Iconoclastic contro-
versy, statues were the objects of attack and defence just as much as pictures, and
in the acts of the Fourth Synod of Constantinople, in 879, no such distinction
is made. The change seems to have been brought about very gradually: so
much so. that no trace remains to us of the steps by which it came to pass. The
causes of it have been ably stated by Milman, in his History of Latin Christianity
(vi. p. 413): *To the keener perception of the Greeks there may have arisen
a feeling that, in its more rigid and solid form, the image was more near to the
idoL At the same time the art of sculpture and cast'mg in bronze was probably
more degenerate and out of use ; at all events it was too slow and laborious to
supply the demand of triumphant zeal for the restoration of the persecuted images.
There was, therefore, a tacit compromise ; nothing appeared but painting, mosaics,
engraving on cups and chalices, embroidery on vestments. The renunciation of
sculpture grew into a rigid passionate aversion. The Greek at length learned
to contemplate that kind of more definite representation of the Deity, or the
saints, witn the aversion of a Jew or a Monammedan.' That the instinctive
objection to a material image has been all along at work, is confirmed by the
remark made to me by an intelligent monk on Mount Athos, that the icon merely
served for a likeness or remembrance of a person, while the statue expressed
beauty and caused sensual gratification. As far as I am aware, only one statue
now remains in the Greek Church,— a wooden statue of St Clement of Rome
in the metropolitan church of Ochrida (Achrida) in Western Macedonia. I have
elsewhere suggested {Highlands of Turkey, i. pp. 187, 191) that this statue dates
from the time of Cyril and Methodius, who transported the body of St. Clement
from the East to Rome, and one of whose followers, Clement of Ochrida, after
their death, retired to his native city and fotmded a monastery there. Reverence
Digitized by V^UO^ It^
1 66 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.LCh.III. §3.
a rebellion of the Sclavonians in the Peloponnesus, which had
commenced during the reign of Theophilus, On this occasion
the mass of the Sclavonian colonists was reduced to complete
submission, and subjected to the regular system of taxation ;
but two tribes settled on Mount Taygetus, the Ezerits and
Melings, succeeded in retaining a certain degree of independ-
ence, governing themselves according to their own usages, and
paying only a fixed annual tribute. For the Ezerits this
tribute amounted to three hundred pieces of gold, and for the
Melings to the trifling sum of sixty. The general who com-
manded the Byzantine troops on this occasion was Theoktistos
Briennios, who held the office of protospatharios^.
In the mean time Theoktistos the regent, anxious to obtain
that degree of power and influence which, in the Byzantine as
in the Roman empire, was inseparable from military renown,
took the command of a great expedition into Colchis, to con-
quer the Abasges. His fleet was destroyed by a tempest, and
his troops were defeated by the enemy. In order to r^^in
the reputation he had lost, he made an attempt in the follow-
ing year to reconquer the island of Crete from the Saracens.
But while he was engaged in the si^e of Chandax (Candia),
the report of a revolution at Constantinople induced him to
quit his army, in order to look after his personal interests and
political intrigues. The troops suffered severely after they
were abandoned by their general, whom they were compelled
at last to follow ^
The war with the caliph of Bagdad still continued, and the
destruction of a Saracen fleet, consisting of four hundred
galleys, by a tempest off" Cape Chelidonia, in the Kibyrraiot
theme, consoled the Byzantine government for its other losses. .
for his memory would cause it to be spared. Von Hahn, who has since visitf^d
Ochrida, is also of opinion that its date is earlier than the capture of that place
by Basil II. in 1018 {Rti&e durch die Gebi$U des Drin und Wardar, p. 119). The
crucifix came to be proscribed in the same way. The only remaining specimens
of this that I am acquainted with are one at Ochrida in the same church with the
statue, and one at the monastery of Xeropotamu on Mount Athos, a reputed gift
of the Empress Pulcheria. There is a third at the monastery of Chrysopegi near
Canea in Crete, but this presents so many unusual features, as to render it
doubtful whether it is truly Byzantine, or whether it is not rather a gift of the
Venetians. Ed.]
* Constant. Porphyr. De Adm, Imp. cap. 50. Thb Theoktistos must not be
confounded with tne regent, who never returned successful from any expedition.
Contin. 126.
* Contm. 136. About this time Weil (ii. 343) mentions that a Cretan fleet
threatened to blockade the Hellespont.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
SARACEN WAR. 167
AJ). 841-867.]
The caliph had expected, by means of this great naval force,
to secure the command of the Archipelago and assist the
operations of his armies in Asia Minor. The hostilities on
the Cilician frontier were prosecuted without any decided
advantage to either party, until the unlucky Theoktistos
placed himself at the head of the Byzantine troops. His
incapacity brought on a general engagement, in which
the imperial army was completely defeated, at a place
called Mauropotamos, near the range of Mount Taurus^.
After this battle, an officer of reputation, (Theophanes, from
Fergana,) disgusted with the severity and blunders of Theok-
tistos, deserted to the Saracens and embraced Islamism. At
a subsequent period, however, he again returned to the
Byzantine service and the Christian religion^.
In the year 845, an exchange of prisoners was effected on
the banks of the river Lamus, a day's journey to the west of
Tarsus. This was the first that had taken place since the
taking of Amorium, The frequent exchange of prisoners
between the Christians and the Mussulmans always tended
to soften the miseries of war ; and the cruelty which inflicted
martyrdom on the forty-two prisoners of rank taken at
Amorium in the beginning of this year, seems to have been
connected with the interruption of the negotiations which had
previously so often facilitated these exchanges ^
A female regency was supposed by the barbarians to be of
necessity a period of weakness. The Bulgarians, under this
impression, threatened to commence hostilities unless the
Byzantine government consented to pay them an annual
subsidy. A firm answer on the part of Theodora, accom-
panied by the display of a considerable military force on the
frontier, however, restrained the predatory disposition of King
Bc^oris and his subjects. Peace was re-established after
* Georg. Mon., in Script, pwt Theoph. 539.
• Leo Gramm. 457, jjSi ; Georg. Mon. 533. Guards from Fergana {<papy6at<H
6:^*9) are mentioned as having been sent to Italy in the time of Romanus I.,
A.D. 935. Constant. Porphyr. De Caeretnoniis Aulae Byzandnae^ 381, 434. edit.
Leich. It must be observed, however, that there was a country called Fergunna,
and Fraganeo Civitates, among the Sclavonians in Polabia. Schafarik, Shunscht
Alttrtkwner, ii. 607, 630. So extensive were the relations of the Byzantine empire,
that it is not easy to decide between the Sclavonians of the West and the Turks of
the East.
» Abulpharagius, Ck, Arab. 167 ; Constant. Porphyr. De Caer. Aula$ Byzantina$
839.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
l68 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.C&.m. §3i
some trifling hostilities, an exchange of prisoners took place,
the commercial relations between the two states became closer;
and many Bulgarians, who had lived so long in the Byzantine
empire as to have acquired the arts of civilized life and a
knowledge of Christianity, returning to their homes, prepared
their countrymen for receiving a higher d^^ee of social
culture, and with it the Christian religion.
The disturbed state of the Saracen empire, under the
Caliphs Vathek and Motawukel, would have enabled the
regency to enjoy tranquillity, had religious zeal not impelled
the orthodox to persecute the inhabitants of the empire in the
South-eastern provinces of Asia Minor. The regency un-
fortunately followed the counsels of the bigoted party, which
regarded the extinction of heresy as the most important duty
of the rulers of the state. Christians whose opinions deviated
from the official standard of orthodoxy, were persecuted with
so much cruelty that they were driven to rebellion, and
compelled to solicit protection for their lives and property
from the Saracens, who seized the opportunity of transport-
ing hostilities within the Byzantine frontiers.
The Paulicians were the heretics most hateful to the
orthodoxy of Constantinople. They were enemies of image-
worship, and showed little respect to the authority of a
church establishment, for their priests devoted themselves to
the service of their fellow-creatures without forming them-
selves into a separate order of society, or attempting to
establish a hierarchical organization. Their social and political
opinions were viewed with as much hatred and alarm by the
ecclesiastical counsellors of Theodora, as the philanthropic
principles of the early Christians had been by the pagan
emperors of Rome, and the same calumnies were circulated
among the orthodox against the Paulicians, which had been
propagated amongst the heathen against the Christians.
They were accused of Manicheanism, and the populace of
Constantinople was taught to exult in their tortures as the
populace of Rome had been persuaded to delight in the
cruelties committed on the early Christians who were calum-
niated as enemies of the human race.
From the time of Constantine V. the Paulicians generally
enjoyed some degree of toleration ; but the regency of
Theodora resolved to consummate the triumph of orthodoxy,
Digitized by VjUO^ li^*
PERSECUTION OF THE PAULICIANS. 169
iui. 843-867.]
by a cruel persecution of all who refused to conform to the
ceremonies of the established church. Imperial commis-
sioners were sent into the Paulician districts to enforce
ecclesiastical union, and every individual who resisted the
invitations of the clergy was either condemned to death or
his property was confiscated. It is the boast of orthodox his-
torians that ten thousand Paulicians perished in this manner.
Far greater numbers, however, escaped into the province of
Melitene, where the Saracen emir granted them protection,
and assisted them to plan schemes of revenge ^.
The cruelty of the Byzantine administration at last goaded
the oppressed to resistance within the empire; and the
injustice displayed by the officers of the government induced
many, who were themselves indifferent on the religious
question, to take up arms against oppression. Karbeas, one
of the principal officers on the staff of Theodotos Melissenos,
the general of the Anatolic theme, hearing that his father had
been crucified for his adherence to the doctrines of the
Paulicians, fled to the emir of Melitene, and collected a body
of five thousand men, with which he invaded the empire^.
The Paulician refugees were established, by the caliph's order,
in two cities called Argaous and Amara ; but their number
soon increased so much, by the arrival of fresh emigrants,
that they formed a third establishment at a place called
Tephrike (Divreky), in the district of Sebaste (Sivas), in a
secluded country of difficult access, where they constructed a
strong fortress and dwelt in a state of independence ^. Omar,
the emir of Melitene, at the head of a Saracen army, and
Karbeas with a strong body of Paulicians, ravaged the frontiers
of the empire. They were opposed by Petronas, the brother
of Theodora, then general of the Thrakesian theme. The
Byzantine army confined its operations to defence; while
Alim, the governor of Tarsus, having been defeated, and civil
war breaking out in the Saracen dominions in consequence of
the cruelties of the Caliph Motawukel, the incursions of the
* Con tin. 103.
* Contin. 103.
» Saint-Martin, Mhnoires sur VArmitue, i. 188. The secluded position of Divreky
made it the seat of an almost independent band of Kurds when it was visited by
Otter in 1743. Voyag* tn Tvrquie tt tn First, ii. 306. It contains at present
about two thousand houses, situated in a fertile valley amidst luxuriant gardens.
Ainsworth, TVavels and Risearches in Asia Minor, ii. 7.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
170 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.ai.in §3.
Paulicians were confined to mere plundering forays. In the
mean time a considerable body of Paulicians continued to
dwell in several provinces of the empire, escaping persecution
by outward conformity to the Greek church, and by paying
exactly all the dues levied on them by the Byzantine clergy.
The whole force of the empire was not directed against the
Paulicians until some years later, during the reign of Basil I.
In the year 852, the regency revenged the losses inflicted
by the Saracen pirates on the maritime districts of the empire,
by invading Egypt. A Byzantine fleet landed a body of
troops at Damietta, which was plundered and burned ; the
country round was ravaged, and six hundred female slaves
were carried away ^.
Theodora, like her female predecessor Irene, displayed
considerable talents for government. She preserved the
tranquillity of the empire, and increased its prosperity in spite
of her persecuting policy; but, like Irene, she n^lected her
duty to her son in the most shameful manner. In the series
of Byzantine sovereigns from Leo III. (the Isaurian) to
Michael IIL, only two proved utterly unfit for the duties of
their station, and both appear to have been corrupted by the
education they received from their mothers. The unfeeling
ambition of Irene, and the heartless vanity of Theodora, were
the original causes of the folly of Constantine VI. and the
vices of Michael III. The system of education generally
adopted at the time seems to have been singularly well
-adapted to form men of ability, as we see in the instances
of Constantine V., Leo IV., and Theophilus, who were all
educated as princes and heirs to the empire. Even if we
take the most extended view of Byzantine society, we shall
find that the constant supply of great talents displayed in
the public service must have been the result of careful cultiva-
tion and judicious systematic study. No other monarchical
government can produce such a long succession of able
ministers and statesmen as conducted the Byzantine adminis-
tration during the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. The
remarkable deficiency of original genius during this period
only adds an additional proof that the mind was disciplined
by a rigid system of education.
* We owe the knowledge of this expedition to the Arabic Chronicle of Abul-
pharagius, p. 170.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
PROFLIGACY OF MICHAEL. 17I
AJ>. 84J-867.]
Theodora abandoned the care of her child^ education to
her brother Bardas, of whose tastes and talents she may have
been a very incompetent judge, but of whose debauched
manners she must have seen and heard too much. With the
assistance of Theoktistos she arrogated to herself the sole
direction of the public administration, and viewed with in-
difference the course of idleness and profligacy by which
Bardas corrupted the principles of her son in his endeavour
to secure a mastery over his mind. Both mother and uncle
appear to have expected to profit by the young emperor's
vices. Bardas soon became a prime favourite, as he not only
afforded the young emperor every facility for gratifying his
passions, but supported him in the disputes with the regency
that originated in his lavish expenditure. Michael at last
came to an open quarrel with his mother. He had fallen
in love with Eudocia, the daughter of Inger, of the great
family of the Martinakes, a connection which both Theodora
and Theoktistos viewed with alarm, as likely to create a
powerful opposition to their political influence^. To pre-
vent a marriage, Theodora succeeded in compelling Michael,
who was then in his sixteenth year, to marry another
lady named Eudocia, the daughter of Dekapolitas. The
young debauchee, however, made Eudocia Ingerina his
mistress, and, towards the end of his reign, bestowed her
in marriage on Basil the Macedonian as a mark of his favour.
She became the mother of the Emperor Leo VI., the
Wise 2.
This forced marriage enabled Bardas to excite the animosity
of Michael against the regency to such a degree that he was
persuaded to sanction the murder of Theoktistos, whose able
financial administration was so generally acknowledged that
Bardas feared to contend openly with so honest a minister.
Theoktistos was arrested by order of the young emperor, and
murdered in prison. The majority of Michael III. was not
immediately proclaimed, but Bardas was advanced to the
* A prophecy is said to have announced that this family should give the empire
a longer succession of emperors than the Amorian dynasty. Contin. 75.
■ "nicre seems a doubt whether Eudocia Ingeiina s first son, after her marriage
with Basil, was named Constantine or Leo. Symeon Mag. (449) and Leo Gramm.
(473) call him Constantine : but George the Monk (540) and Leo Gramm, him-
self (468) call him Leo. Whatever his name was, he was generally supposed to
be the child of Michael IIL
Digitized by VjOOQIC
17a ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.LCh.III. S3,
office of Master of the Horse, and assumed the direction of
the administration. He was consequently regarded as the
real author of the murder of Theoktistos ^.
Theodora, though her real power had ceased, continued to
occupy her place as empress-regent ; but in order to prepare
for her approaching resignation, and at the same time prove
the wisdom of her financial administration, and the value
of the services of Theoktistos, by whose counsels she had
been guided, she presented to the senate a statement of the
condition of the imperial treasury. By this account it
appeared that there was then an immense accumulation of
specie in the coffers of the state. The sum is stated to have
consisted of 109,000 lb. of gold, and 300,000 lb. of silver,
besides immense stores of merchandise, jewels, and plate.
The Empress Theodora was evidently anxious to guard
against all responsibility, and prevent those calumnious
accusations which she knew to be common at the Byzantine
court. The immense treasure thus accumulated would pro-
bably have given immortal strength to Byzantine society,
had it been left in the possession of the people, by a wise
reduction in the amount of taxation, accompanied by a
judicious expenditure for the defence of the frontiers, and for
facilitating the conveyance of agricultural produce to distant
markets ^.
The Empress Theodora continued to live in the imperial
palace, after the murder of Theoktistos, until her regency
expired, on her son attaining the age of eighteen ^ Her
residence must have been rendered a torture to her mind
by the unseemly exhibitions of the debauched associates
of her Son. The eagerness of Michael to be delivered from
* Theophanes of Fergana, who had returned and become captain of the guard,
was one of the murderers. Symeon Mag. 435 ; George Mon. 533. The history
of the murder is detailed in the Continuator (105) and Genesius (4J).
' Contin. 108; Symeon Mag. 436. The gold may have equalled 3,350^000
sovereigns, and the silver 4,000,000 crown-pieces, equal perhaps in value to more
than double that sum at Constantinople, and probably more valuable than four
times that sum in the rest of Europe. But ail comparisons of the value of money
at different times must be mere conjecture. Coin travels along bad roads with
greater difficulty than merchandise.
» He was more than three years old at his father's death. Contin. 9a. He
reigned with Theodora more than fourteen years. Krug, Ckronologit der Byzam-
liner, 3. Theoktistos was murdered in the thirteenth year of his reign. Symeon
Mag. 435. From the conclusion of Theodora's regency Michael reigned upwards
of eleven years. Nicephorus Pat. Compend. 403, at the end of Syn^lus. Many
anecdotes confirm this chronology. Schlosser, 572.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
BANISHMENT OF THEODORA. 173
A.D. 843-«67.]
her presence at length caused him to send both his mother
and his sisters to reside in the Carian Palace, and even to
attempt persuading the Patriarch Ignatius to give them the
veil. After her banishment from the imperial palace, Theo-
dora still hoped to recover her influence with her son, if
she could separate him from Bardas; and she engaged in
intrigues with her brother's enemies, whose secret object
was his assassination \ This conspiracy was discovered, and
only tended to increase the power of Bardas. He was now
raised to the dignity of curopalat. Theodora and the sisters
of Michael were removed to the monastery of Gastria, the
usual residence of the ladies of the imperial family who were
secluded from the world. After the death of Bardas, however,
Theodora recovered some influence over her son; she was
allowed to occupy apartments in the palace of St. Mamas,
and it was at a party in her rural residence at the Anthemian
Palace that Michael was assassinated^. Theodora died in
the first year of the reign of Basil I. ; and Thekla, the sister
of Michael, who had received the imperial title, and was as
debauched in her manners as her brother, continued her
scandalous life during great part of Basil's reign ^ ; yet
Theodora is eulogized as a saint by the ecclesiastical writers
of the Western as well as the Eastern church, and is honoured
with a place in the Greek calendar.
Encouraged by the counsels and example of Bardas, Michael
plunged into every vice. His orgies obtained for him the
name of the Drunkard ; but, in spite of his vicious conduct,
his devotion to chariot-races and his love of festivals gave
him considerable popularity among the people of Constan-
tinople. The people were amused by his follies, and the
citizens profited by his lavish expenditure. Many anecdotes
concerning his vices have been preserved, but they are deserving
of detailed notice only as proofs of the great demoralization
then existing at Constantinople, for, as facts concerning
Michael, it is probable they have received their colouring
from the flatterers of the dynasty of his assassin. Michael's
unworthy conduct, however, ultimately rendered him con-
temptible to all classes. Had the emperor confined himself
* Symcon Mag. 435 ; Georg. Mon. 534.
* Symeon Mag. 451 ; Georg. Mon. 541 ; Leo Gramm. 468.
* Georg. Mon. 545 ; Leo Gramm. 471.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
174 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.LCh.in. 13.
to appearing as a charioteer in the Hippodrome, it would
have been easily pardoned ; but he carried his extravagance
so far as to caricature the ceremonies of the orthodox church,
and publicly to burlesque the religious processions of the
clergy. The indifference of the people to this ribaldry seems
doubly strange, when we reflect on the state of superstition
into which the Constantinopolitans had fallen, and on the
important place occupied by the Eastern church in Byzantine
society \ Perhaps, however, the endeavours which had been
made, both by the church and the emperors, to render church
ceremonies an attractive species of public amusement, had
tended to prepare the public mind for this irreverent caricature.
It is always imprudent to trifle with a serious subject, and
more especially with religion and religious feelings. At this
time, music, singing, eloquence, magnificence of costume, and
scenic effect, had all been carefully blended with architectural
decoration of the richest kind in the splendid church of
St. Sophia, to excite the admiration and engage the attention.
The consequence was, that religion was the thing least thought
of by the people, when they assembled together at ecclesiastical
festivals. Their object was to enjoy the music, view the
pageantry, and criticize the performers. Michael gratified
the supercilious critics by his caricatures, and gave variety
to the public entertainments by the introduction of comedy
and farce. The necessity of this was felt in the Roman
Catholic church, which authorized similar saturnalia, to prevent
the ground being occupied by opponents. The Emperor
Michael exhibited a clever but very irreverent caricature of
the ecclesiastical processions of the Patriarch and clergy of
Constantinople. The masquerade consisted of an excellent
buffoon arrayed in the patriarchal robes, attended by eleven
mimic metropolitan bishops in full costume, embroidered with
gold, and followed by a crowd disguised as choristers and
priests. This cortege, accompanied by the emperor in person,
as if in a solemn procession, walked through the streets of
the capital singing ridiculous songs to psalm tunes, and
burlesque hymns in praise of debauchery, mingling the rich
melodies of Oriental church-music with the discordant nasal
* It reminds us of the irreverent treatment that the gods whom the State
honoured received at Athens from Aristophanes.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
GENERAL DEPRAVITY. 17<:
i,D.84«-867.] ^
scfeams of Greek popular ballads. This disgraceful exhi-
bition was frequently repeated, and on one occasion encountered
the real Patriarch, whom the buffoon saluted with ribald
courtesy, without exciting a burst of indignation from the
pious Greeks^.
The depravity of society in all ranks had reached the
most scandalous pitch. Bardas, when placed at the head of
the public administration, took no care to conceal his vices ;
he was accused of an incestuous intercourse with his son's
wife, while the young man held the high office of generalissimo
of the European troops '^. Ignatius the Patriarch was a man
of the highest character, eager to obtain for the church in
the East that moral supremacy which the papal power now
arrogated to itself in the West. Disgusted with the vices of
Bardas, he refused to administer the sacrament to him on
Advent Sunday, when it was usual for all the great digni-
taries of the empire to receive the holy communion from
the hands of the. Patriarch ; A.D. 857. Bardas, to revenge
himself for this public mark of infamy, recalled to the memory
of the young emperor the resistance Ignatius had made to
Theodora's receiving the veil, and accused him of holding
private communication with a monk who had given himself
out to be a sop of Theodora, bom before her marriage with
Theophilus. As this monk was known to be mad, and as
many senators and bishops were attached to Ignatius, it
would have been extremely difficult to convict the Patriarch
of treason on such an accusation ; and there appeared no
possibility of framing any charge of heresy against him.
Michael was, however, persuaded to arrest him on various
charges of having committed acts of sedition, and to banish
him to the island of Terebinthos.
It was now necessary to look out for a new Patriarch, and
the circumstances required that the successor of Ignatius
should be a man of high character as well as talent, for
the deposed Patriarch had occupied no ordinary position.
His father and his maternal grandfather (Michael I. and
■ Contin. 134. If the fable of the female Pope Joanna proves anything, it may
be received as evidence that the state of society at Rome was little better than at
Constantinople. The imaginary female pope was supposed to be a contemporary
of the real drunken emperor.
' Symeon Mag. 439 : fioroirrpdniyot iwv htriicbv.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
176 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.CluIIL$^
Nicephorus I.) had both filled the throne of Constantinople ;
he was celebrated for his piety and his devotion to the
cause of the church. But his party zeal had already raised
up a strong opposition to his measures in the bosom of the
church; and Bardas took advantage of these ecclesiastical
dissensions to make the contest concerning the patriarchate
a clerical struggle, without bringing the state into direct
collision with the church, whose factious spirit did the work
of its own d^radation, Gregory, a son of the Emperor
Leo v., the Armenian, was Bishop of Syracuse. He had
been suspended by the Patriarch Methodios for consecrating
a priest out of his diocese. During the patriarchate of
Ignatius, the hereditary hostility of the sons of two rival
emperors had perpetuated the quarrel, and Ignatius had
probably availed himself with pleasure of the opportunity
offered him of excommunicating Gregory as some revenge
for the loss of the imperial throne. It was pretended that
Gr^ory had a hereditary aversion to image-worship, and
the suspicions of Methodios were magnified by the animosity
of Ignatius into absolute heresy*. This dispute had been
referred to Pope Benedict III., and his decision in favour
of Ignatius had induced Gregory and his partisans, who were
numerous and powerful, to call in question the l^pility of
the election of Ignatius. Bardas, availing himself of this
ecclesiastical contest, employed threats, and strained the
influence of the emperor to the utmost, to induce Ignatius
to resign the patriarchate; but in vain. It was, therefore,
decided that Photius should be elected Patriarch without
obtaining a formal resignation of the office from. Ignatius,
whose election was declared null.
Photius, the chief secretary of state, who was thus suddenly
raised to the head of the Eastern church, was a man of high
rank, noble descent, profound learning, and great personal
influence. If we believe his own declaration, publicly and
frequently repeated, he was elected against his will ; and
there seems no doubt that he could not have opposed the
selection of the emperor without forfeiting all rank at court.
» Genesius, 47 ; Symeon Mag. 443. Schlosser (p. 593) points out that Gregory,
one of the sons of Leo the Annenian, was the same person with Gregory Asb^tas,
archbishop of Syracuse. Coleti, Cwtil, x. 698 ; Nicetas, Vita JgnaiiL
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and perhaps incurring personal danger^. His popularity,
his intimate acquaintance with civil and canon law, and his
family alliance with the imperial house, gave him many
advantages in his new rank. Like his celebrated predecessors,
Tarasios and Nicephoros, he >vas a layman when his election
took place. On the 20th December, 857, he was consecrated
a monk by Gr^ory, archbishop of Syracuse ; on the following
day he became an anagnostes ; the day after, a sub-deacon -,
next day he was appointed deacon ; on the 24th he received
priest's orders. He was then formally elected Patriarch in
a synod, and on Christmas-day solemnly consecrated in the
church of St. Sophia ^.
The election of Photius was evidently illegal, and it in-
creased the dissensions already existing in the church ; but
these dissensions drew off the attention of the people in some
degree from political abuses, and enabled Bardas to constitute
the civil power judge in ecclesiastical matters. Ignatius and
the leading men of his party were imprisoned and ill treated ;
but even the clergy of the party of Photius could not escape
being insulted and carried before the ordinary tribunals, if
they refused to comply with the iniquitous demands of the
courtiers, or ventured to oppose the injustice of the govern-
ment officials. Photius soon bitterly repented having rendered
himself the agent of such men as Bardas and Michael ; and as
he knew their conduct and characters before his election, we
may believe the assertion he makes in his letters to Bardas
hinoself , and which he repeats to the Pope, that he was com-
pelled to accept the patriarchate against bis wish^
In the mean time, Ignatius was allowed so much liberty by
the crafty Bardas, who found Photius a less docile instrument
» Photius was the grand-nephew of the Patriarch Tarasios, who like himself
bad been raised froni the post of secretary of state to rule the church. Letter
of Photins to Pope Nicholas in Histoire de Photius, par I'AbW Jager (448) — a
prejudiced and not very accurate work. Irene, sister of the Empress Theodora,
was married to Sergius, the brother of Photius. Ducange, Fam. Aug. Byz. 135 ;
Can tin. 109; Cedrenus, 545. The Abb^ Jager says that Arsaber, who married
another sister of Theodora (Kalomeria), was uncle to Photius.
' Baronius {AnnaUs Ecclis, x.\ Coleti {Condi, ix. and x.), and Photius (£/ts/o/a^,
London, 165 1), are the chief sources of ecclesiastical history for this period. The
account of Photius in the work of Hankius, De ByzanHnarum Rerum Scriptoribus
Orttecis (p. 269), deserves attention.
• Photii Epistdae, 3 and 6; Schlosser, 602. The Histoire de Photius, by the
Abb6 Jager. gives a letter to Pope Nicholas confirming this unwillingness, pp. 34
and 433.
VOL. 11. N
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than he had expected, that his partisans assembled a synod in
the church of Irene for forty days. In this assembly Photius
and his adherents were excommunicated. Bardas, however,
declared in favour of Photius, and allowed him to hold a
counter-synod in the Church of the Holy Apostles, in which
the election of Ignatius was declared uncanonical, as having
been made by the Empress Theodora in opposition to the
protest of several bishops ^ The persecution of Ignatius was
renewed ; he was exiled to Mitylene, and his property was
sequestrated, in the hope that by these measures he would be
induced to resign the patriarchal dignity. Photius, however,
had the sense to see that this persecution only increased his
rival's popularity and strengthened his party; he tlierefore
persuaded the emperor to recall him, and reinstate him in the
possession of his private fortune. Photius must have felt
that his own former intimacy with his debauched relation
Bardas, and his toleration of the vices of Michael, had fixed
a deep stain on his character in the eyes of all sincere
Christians.
It was necessary to legalize the election of Photius, and
obtain the ratification of the deposition of Ignatius by a
general council of the church ; but no general council could
be convoked without the sanction of the Pope. The Emperor
Michael consequently despatched ambassadors to Rome, to
invite Pope Nicholas I. to send legates to Constantinople, for
the purpose of holding a general council, to put an end to the
dissensions in the Eastern Church. Nicholas appointed two
legates, Zacharias and Rodoald, who were instructed to ex-
amine into the disputes concerning the patriarchate, and also
to demand the restitution of the estates belonging to the
patrimony of St. Peter in Calabria and Sicily, of which the
papal See had been deprived in the time of Leo III. The
Pope, moreover, required the emperor to fe-establish the papal
jurisdiction ov^r the lUyrian provinces, and recognize his
right to appoint the archbishop of Syracuse, and confirm the
election of all the bishops in the European provinces of the
empire.
The Popes were now beginning to arrogate to themselves
that temporal power over the whole church which had grown
' Schlosser, 603.
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out of their new position as sovereign princes ; but they based
their temporal ambition on that spiritual power which they
claimed as the rock of St. Peter, not on the donation of Char-
lemagne. The truth is, that the first Christian emperors had
laid a firm foundation for the papal power, by constituting the
Bishop of Rome a kind of secretary of state for Christian
affairs. He was employed as a central authority for com-
municating with the bishops of the provinces ; and out of this
circumstance it very naturally arose that he acted for a con-
siderable period as minister of religion and public instruction
in the imperial administration ; a position which conferred
immense power in a government so strictly centralized as that
of the Roman empire \ The Christian emperors of the West,
being placed in more direct collision with paganism than those
of the East, vested more extensive powers, both of adminis-
tration and police, in the Bishop of Rome and the provincial
bishops of the Western Church, than the clergy attained in
the East. This authority of the bishops increased as the civil
and military power of the Western Empire declined ; and
when Rome became a provincial city of the Eastern Empire,
the popes became the political chiefs of Roman society, and
inherited no small portion of the influence formerly exercised
by the imperial administration over the provincial ecclesias-
tics. It is true, the Bishops of Rome could not exercise this
power without control, but, in the opinion of a majority of the
subjects of the barbarian conquerors in the West, the Pope
was the legal representative of the civilization of imperial
Rome as well as the legitimate successor of St. Peter and the
guardian of the rock on which Christianity was founded. Un-
less the authority of the popes be traced back to their original
position as archbishops of Rome and patriarchs of the Western
Empire, and the institutions of the papal church be viewed as
they originally existed in connection with the imperial ad-
ministration, the real value of the papal claims to universal
domination, founded on traditional feelings, cannot be justly
estimated. The popes only imitated the Roman emperors in
their most exorbitant pretensions ; and the vicious principles
* lA9i JTteodosii et VaUntimafu\ apud Seriptores rerutn Franctc. et Gallie. torn.
i. 768. See Thierry, Histoire de la Conquitt de VAngUterre; Notes ei Piices Just, ;
Cod. Theod. xvi. tit. a, De Episcopis Ecclesiis et Clericis ; Cod. Justin, i. 3, De EpiscoptM
et CUricU; Nov, Valentin, i. tit 24, De Episcoporum Ordinations,
N %
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of Constantine, while he was still a pagan, continue to exert
their corrupt influence over the ecclesiastical institutions of
the greater part of Europe to the present day.
The popes early assumed that Constantine had conferred
on the Bishop of Rome a supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction
over the three European divisions of his don^inions, when he
divided the empire into four prefectures *. There were, indeed,
many facts which tended to support this claim. Africa, in so
far as it belonged to the jurisdiction of the European prefec-
tures, acknowledged the authority of the Bishop of Rome ;
and even after the final division of the empire, Dacia, Mace-
donia, Thessaly, Epirus, and Greece, though they were sepa-
rated from the prefecture of Illyricum, and formed a new
province of the Eastern Empire, continued to be dependent on
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Pope. The Patriarch of
Antioch was considered the head of the church in the East.
Egypt formed a peculiar district in the ecclesiastical, as it did
in the civil administration of the Roman empire, and had its
own head, the Patriarch of Alexandria. The Patriarchs of
Jerusalem and Constantinople were modem creations. The
bishop of Jerusalem, who had been dependent on the Patri-
arch of Antioch, received the honorary title of Patriarch at the
council of Nicaea, and the Emperor Theodosius II. conferred
on him an independent jurisdiction over the three Palestines,
the two Phoenicias, and Arabia ; but it was not until after the
council of Chalcedon that his authority was acknowledged by
the body of the church, and it was then restricted to the three
Palestines ; A. D. 451.
The bishop of Byzantium had been dependent on the
metropolitan or exarch of Heraclea before the translation of
the imperial residence to his See and the foundation of
Constantinople. In the council held at Constantinople in
381, he was first ranked as Patriarch, because he was the
bishop of the capital of the Eastern Empire, and placed
immediately after the Bishop of Rome in the ecclesiastical
hierarchy. St. Chrysostom and his successors exercised the
patriarchal jurisdiction, both in Europe and Asia, over the
Eastern Empire, just as the popes of Rome exercised it in
the Western, yielding merely a precedence in ecclesiastical
* Zosimus, ii. 3^
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honour to the representative of St. Peter*. In spite of the
opposition of the bishops of old Rome, the bishops of new
Rome thus attained an equality of power which made the
popes tremble for their supremacy, and they r^arded the
Patriarchs of Constantinople rather as rivals than as joint
rulers of the church. Their ambitious jealousy, joined to the
aspiring arrogance of their rivals, caused all the evils they
feared. The disputes l)etween Ignatius and Photius now gave
the Pope hopes of re-establishing the supremacy of Rome
over the whole church, and of rendering the Patriarchs of the
East merely vicegerents of the Roman See.
The papal legates sent by Nicholas were present at a
general council held at Constantinople in the year 861, which
was attended by three hundred and eighteen bishops. Bardas
and Photius had succeeded in securing the goodwill of
the majority of the Eastern clei^. They also succeeded in
gaining the support of the representatives of the Pope, if they
did not purchase it. Ignatius, who was residing in his
mother's palace of Posft, was required to present himself
before the council. He was deposed, though he appealed to
the Pope's l^ates, and persisted in protesting that the council
did not possess a legal right to depose him. It is said that a
pen was placed forcibly between his fingers, and a cross drawn
with it, as his signature to the act of deposition. He was
then ordered to read his abdication, on the day of Pentecost,
in the Church of the Holy Apostles ; but, to avoid this dis-
grace, he escaped in the disguise of a slave to the Prince's
Islands, and concealed himself among the innumerable monks
who had taken up their abode in those delicious retreats.
Bardas sent Oryphas with six galleys to examine every one
of the insular monasteries in succession, in order to arrest the
fugitive ; but the search was vain. After the termination
of the council, Ignatius returned privately to his maternal
palace, where he was allowed to remain unmolested*. The
* Socrates, Hiu, Ecchs. vii. 28; Cod, Theod, xvi a. 45; Council of Chalcedon,
9th. 1 7th, and 2Sth canons.
' He was said to have been indebted to an earthquake for this mild treatment.
Bardas was frightened, and Photius was looked upon as impious for declaring
from the pulpit that earthquakes were produced by physical causes acting upon
the waters under the earth, and not from divine wrath to awaken mankind to
a sense of their sins. Symeon Mag. 445. Photius, like his predecessor, John
the Grammarian, was too learned for the populace, and hi» knowledge was
attributed to personal intercourse with demons, who in that age were supposed
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discussions of this council are said by its enemies to have
been conducted in a very tumultuous manner} but as the
majority was favoured by the Patriarch, the papal legates,
and the imperial administration, it is not likely that any
confusion was allowed within the walls of the council, even
though the party of Ignatius was supported by the Empresses
Theodora and Eudocia, and by the great body of the monks.
The Emperor Michael, with great impartiality, refused to
throw the whole weight of his authority in either scale. The
truth is, that, being somewhat of a freethinker as well as a
debauchee, he laughed at both parties, saying that Ignatius
was the patriarch of the people, Photius the patriarch of
Bardas, and Gryllos (the imperial buffoon) his own patriarch \
Nevertheless, Ignatius was deposed, and the acts of the
council were ratified by the papal legates *.
The legates of the Pope certainly yielded to improper
influence, for, besides -approving the measures of the Byzan-
tine government with reference to the patriarchate, they
neglected to demand the recognition of the spiritual authority
of the papal See in the terms prescribed by their instructions.
They were consequently disavowed on their return to Rome.
The party of Ignatius appealed to the Pope, who seeing that
no concessions could be gained from Michael, Bardas, or
Photius, embraced the cause of the deposed Patriarch with
warmth. A synod was convoked at Rome ; Photius was
excommunicated, in case he should dare to retain possession
of the patriarchal chair, after receiving the papal decision in
favour of Ignatius; A.D. 863. Gregory, the archbishop of
Syracuse, who had ordained Photius, was anathematized, and
declared a schismatic, if he continued t© perform sacerdotal
functions, as well as all those who held communion with him.
When the acts of this synod were communicated to Michael
by papal letters, the indignation of the emperor was awakened
by what he considered the insolent interference of a foreign
priest in the affairs of the empire, and he replied in a violent
to act as professors -of Hellenic literature and natural philosophy. Symeon gives
some curious anecdotes to the disadvantage of Photius.
* Gryllos, whom the emperor had employed to enact the patriarch, received
from the people the name of the hog, from his low debauchery.
^ This council is called by the Greeks the first and second, from having been
held in two separate series of sessions. It seems that it re enacted the acts of
the synod held oy Photius in 8 j 7.
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and unbecoming letter. He told his Holiness that he had
invited him to send l^ates to the general council at Con-
stantinople, from a wish to maintain unity in the church, not
because the participation of the Bishop of Rome was
necessary to the validity of the acts of the Eastern Church.
This was all very reasonable ; but he went on to treat
the Pope and the Latin clergy as barbarians, because they
were ignorant of Greek. For this insult, however, the
emperor received a sharp and well-merited rebuke from Pope
Nicholas, who asked him why he styled himself Emperor of
the Romans, if he thought the language of the Roman
empire and of the Roman church a barbarous one. It was a
greater disgrace, in the opinion of the Pope, for the Roman
emperor to be ignorant of the Roman language, than for the
head of the Roman church to be ignorant of Greek.
Nicholas had nothing to fear from the power of Michael, so
that he acted without the restraint imposed on Gregory H. in
his contest with Leo the Isaurian. Indeed, the recent success
of the Pope, in his dispute with Lothaire, king of Austrasia,
gave him hopes of coming off victorious, even in a quarrel
with the Eastern emperor. He did not sufficiently understand
the effect of more advanced civilization and extended education
on Byzantine society. Nicholas, therefore, boldly called on
Michael to cancel his insolent letter, declaring that it would
otherwise be publicly burned by the Latin clergy; and he
summoned the rival Patriarchs of Constantinople to appear in
person before the papal court, that he might hear and decide
their differences.
This pretension of the Pope to make himself absolute
master of the Christian church awakened the spirit of
resistance at Constantinople, and caused Photius to respond
by advancing new claims for his See. He insisted that the
Patriarchs of Constantinople were equal in rank and authority
to the Popes of Rome. The disputes of the clergy being the
only subject on which the government of the Eastern Empire
allowed any expression of public opinion, the whole attention
of society was soon directed to this ecclesiastical quarrel.
Michael assembled a council of the church in 866, at which
pretended representatives of the patriarchs of Antioch,
Alexandria, and Jerusalem were present ; and in this as-
sembly Pope Nicholas was declared unworthy of his See, and
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excommunicated. There was no means of rendering this
sentence of excommunication of any effect, unless Louis II.,
the emperor of the West, could be induced, by the hatred he
bore to Nicholas, to put it in execution. Ambassadors were
sent to urge him to depose the Pope, but the death of Michael
suddenly put an end to the contest with Rome, for his
successor Basil I. embraced the party of Ignatius.
The contest between Rome and Constantinople was not
merely a quarrel between Pope Nicholas and the Patriarch
Photius. There were other causes of difference between the
two Sees, in which Ignatius was as much opposed to papal
pretensions as Photius. Not to mention the old claim of
Rome to recover her jurisdiction over those provinces of the
Byzantine empire which had been dissevered from her
authority, a new conflict had arisen for supremacy over the
church in Bulgaria. When the Bulgarian king Crumn invaded
the empire, after the defeat of Michael I , he carried away so
many prisoners that the Bulgarians, who had already made
considerable advances in civilization, were prepared, by their
intercourse with these slaves, to receive Christianity. A
Greek monk, Theodore Koupharas, who remained long a
prisoner in Bulgaria, converted many by his preaching.
During the invasion of Bulgaria by Leo V., a sister of King
Bogoris was carried to Constantinople as a prisoner, and
educated with care. The empress Theodora exchanged this
princess for Theodore Koupharas, and on her return she
introduced the Christian religion into her brother's palace.
War subsequently broke out between the Bulgarian
monarch and the empire, and Michael and Bardas made an
expedition against the Bulgarians in the year 861 *. The
circumstances of the war are not detailed ; but in the end the
Bulgarian king embraced Christianity, receiving the name of
Michael from the emperor, who became his sponsor. To
purchase this peace, however, the Byzantine emperor ceded
to the Bulgarians all the country along the range of Mount
Haemus, called by the Greeks Sideras, and by the Bulgarians
Zagora, of which Debeltos is the chief town 2. Michael
* Symeon Mag. 440. In the fourth year of Michael's sole government.
■ The Continuator (102) attributes this treaty to the Empress Theodora, bat
the date seems more precisely given by Symeon Magister (440), Georg. Moa.
(534)« This district had been ceded to the Bulgarians by Justinian 11^ but
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pretended that the cession was made as a baptismal donation
to the king. The change in the religion of the Bulgarian
monarch caused some discontent among his subjects, but their
opposition was soon vanquished with the assistance of Michael,
and the most refractory were transported to Constantinople,
where the wealth and civilization of Byzantine society pro-
duced such an impression on their minds that they readily
embraced Christianity \
The Bulgarian monarch, fearing lest the influence of the
Byzantine clergy on his Christian subjects might render him
in some degree dependent on the emperor, opened communi-
cations with Pope Nicholas for the purpose of balancing the
power of the Greek clergy by placing the ecclesiastical affairs
of his kingdom under the control of the Latins. He expected
also to derive some political support for this alliance, when he
saw the eagerness of the Pope to drive the Eastern clergy out
of Bulgaria. Pope Nicholas appears to have thought that
Photius would have made great concessions to the papal See,
in order to receive the pallium from Rome; but when that
Patriarch treated the question concerning the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the Eastern church in Bulgaria as a political
affair, and referred its decision to the imperial cabinet, the
Pope sent legates into Bulgaria, and the churches of Rome
and Constantinople were involved in a direct conflict for the
ecclesiastical patronage of that extensive kingdom. At a
later period, when Ignatius was re-established as Patriarch,
and the general council of 869 was held to condemn the acts of
Photius, Pope Hadrian found Ignatius as little inclined to
make any concessions to the papal See in Bulgaria as his
deposed rival, and this subject remained a permanent cause of
quarrel between the two churches.
Michael, though a drunkard, was not naturally deficient
in ability, activity, or ambition. Though he left the ordinary
administration of public business in the hands of Bardas, on
recovered by Constantine V. [As the name Zagora is found in many parts of
Greece, it may be well to remark that it signifies in Slavonic * behind the moun-
tain.* Thus the district here spoken of is that behind Haemus, relatively to the
northern kingdom of Bulgaria. Another Zagora is the district behind Pindas,
to the north-west of the Zygos pass and Metzovo. A town of the same name
is found on the sea-slopes of Pelion, being behind that mountain relatively to
Thessaly. Ed.]
* Leo Gramm 463. For the conversion of the Bulgarians, Contm. 101 ; Ce-
drentis, ii. 540; Zonaras, ii. 156.
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whom he conferred the title of Caesar, which was then almost
equivalent to a recognition of his title as heir-apparent to the
empire, still he never allowed him to obtain the complete
control over the whole administration, nor permitted him
entirely to crush his opponents in the public service*. Hence
many officers of rank continued to regard the emperor, with
all his vices, as their protector in office. Like all the emperors
of Constantinople, Michael felt himself constrained to appear
frequently at the head of his armies. The tie between the
emperor and the soldiers was perhaps strengthened by these
visits, but it can hardly be supposed that the personal pre-
sence of Michael added much to the efficiency of military
operations.
The war on the frontiers of the Byzantine and Saracen
empires was carried on by Omar, the emir of Melitene, with-
out interruption, in a series of plundering incursions on a
gigantic scale. These were at times revenged by daring
exploits on the part of the Byzantine generals. In the year
856, Leo, the imperial commander-in-chief, invaded the domi-
nions of the caliph. After taking Anazarba, he crossed the
Euphrates at Samosata, and advanced with his army into
Mesopotamia, ravaging the country as far as Amida. The
Saracens revenged themselves by several plundering incur-
sions into different parts of the empire. To stop these
attacks, Michael put himself at the head of the army, and
laid siege to Samosata without effect. Bardas accompanied
the emperor rather to watch over his own influence at court
than to assist his sovereign in obtaining military glory. The
following year Michael was engaged in the campaign against
the Bulgarians, of which the result has been already men-
tioned. In 860, he led an army of 40,000 European troops
against Omar of Melitene, who had carried his plundering
incursions up to the walls of Sinope '^. A battle took place in
' The nomination of Bardas as Caesar took place in the year 862, at Easter,
according to Genesius (46). But Symeon Magister places it in the third year of
Michael, or 860, while he places the victory of Petronas (which Genesius says
preceded it) in the fifth, or 863. George the Monk and Leo Grammaticus foUow
the same order as Symeon; while the Continuator (114) agrees with Genesius,
and places the nomination of Bardas after the victory of Petronas. Yet the
nomination of Bardas seems to be rightly fixed by Genesius, while the Arabian
historians prove that the victory of Petronas occurred in 863. See p. 187, nou 2.
' The Arabian historians pretend that Omar carried off 17,000 slaves, and
Karbeas, with his Pauliciaas, 5000 in one expedition. Ali Ibu Yahia, governor
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the territory of Dasymon, near the spot which had witnessed
the defeat of Theophilus, and the overthrow of Michael was
as complete as that of his father. The same difficulties in
the ground which had favoured the retreat of Theophilus
enabled Manuel, one of the generals of Michael, to save the
army\
The war was still prosecuted with vigour on both sides.
In 863, Omar entered the Armeniac theme with a large force,
and took Amisus. Petronas, the emperor's uncle, who had
now acquired considerable military experience and reputation
as general of the Thrakesian theme, was placed at the head of
the Byzantine army 2. He collected his forces at Aghionoros,
near Ephesus, and when his army was reinforced by a strong
body of Macedonian and Thracian troops, marched towards
the frontier in several divisions, which he concentrated in such
a manner as to cut off the retreat of Omar, and enclosed him
with an overwhelming force. The troops under Nasar, the
general of the Boukellarian theme, strengthened by the
Armeniac and Paphlagonian legions and the troops of the
theme Koloneia, enclosed the Saracens on the north. Petro-
nas himself, with the Thrakesian, Macedonian, and Thracian
l^ons, secured the passes and advanced from the west;
while the troops of the Anatolic, Opsikian, and Cappadocian
themes, with the divisions of the Kleisourarchs ^ of Seleucia
and Charsiana, having secured the passes to the south, cut off
the direct line of Omar's retreat. An impassable range of
rocky mountains, broken into precipices, rendered escape to
the eastward impracticable. The headquarters of Petronas
were established at Poson, a place situated on the frontiers of
the Paphlagonian and Armeniac themes, near the river
Lalakon, which flows from north to south. Omar had
of Tarsus, was equally snccessfid. Abulpharagins (Bar Hebraeus) says that in
a previous campaign the B3rzantine army had made 20,000 prisoners. Weil.
Geuhiehu der Chali/en^ ii. 36.^ noie 3, and 365. These devastations deserve notice,
as causes of the depopulation of the country.
' Contin. no; Genesius, 44. It is evident that the details of the battle of
Theophilus have been mixed up with those of this battle. The exploits attributed
to the two Manuels are a mere transcript. There is so much confusion in the
narrative and chronology of Michael's war with the Saracens, that it would
occupy too much space to examine its details. Se§ Weil, ii. 365, note i.
* For the date, see Abulfeda, Annal. Modem, ii. 109. Abulpharagius (Ch. Syr.
l^\\ 249th year of the Hegira, from 23rd February 863 to lath February 864.
Also Weil, ii. 380, nou 6.
' [i.e. commanders of the mountain-passes. Ed.]
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encamped in a plain without suspecting the danger lurking
in its rugged boundary to the east. He suddenly found
himself enclosed by the simultaneous advance of the various
divisions of the Byzantine army, and closely blockaded. He
attempted to escape by attacking each division of the enemy
in succession, but the strength of the positions selected by the
imperial officers rendered all his attacks vain. Omar at last
fell in the desperate struggle ; and Petronas, leading fresh
troops into the plain to attack the weary Saracens, completed
the destruction of their army. The son of Omar contrived to
escape from the field of battle, but he was pursued and taken
prisoner by the Kleisourarch of Charsiana, after he had crossed
the Halys ^ When Petronas returned to Constantinople, he
was allowed to celebrate his victory with great pomp and
public rejoicings. The Byzantine writers estimated the army
that was destroyed at 40,000, while the Arabian historians
reduced their loss to only 2,000 men. Public opinion in the
empire of the caliph, however, considered the defeat as a
great calamity; and its real importance may be ascertained
from the fact, that alarming seditions broke out against
the government when the news reached Bagdad ^. After this
victory, too, the eastern frontier enjoyed tranquillity for some
time.
In the year 865, a nation hitherto unknown made its first
appearance in the history of the world, where it was destined
to act no unimportant part Its entrance into the political
system of the European nations was marked by an attempt to
take Constantinople, a project which it has often revived, and
which the progress of Christian civilization seems to indicate
must now be realised at no very distant date, unless the
revival of the Bulgarian kingdom to the south of the Danube
create a new Sclavonian power in the east of Europe capable
of arresting its progress ^ In the year 862, Rurik, a Scan-
* It is not easy to determine the spot where thk battle was fought. Geneshis
calls the place Ab^sianos, and says it was five hundred miles from Aminsot
(p. 46). A valley m the vicinity was called Gyris. Contin. 113. Edrisi (Dr
Oeograpkia^ ii. 308) places the valley Merdj Aluskuf twenty-four miles north-west
of Baranda (Laranda), on the road from Tarsus to Abydos. This would place
it in the Anatolic theme, among the Lycaonian counter-forts of Taurus, and would
lead to the supposition that Omar was retreating to gain Tarsus, in order to jHaoe
his booty in seairity. See Weil, ii. 381.
« Weil, ii. 381.
• Since this was written, a change has been made in the state of these countries
by the Crimean War and by the union of Vallachia and Moldavia. [The state-
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RUSSIANS ATTACK CONSTANTINOPLE. 189
dinavian or Varangian chief, arrived at Novgorod, and laid the
first foundation of the state which has grown into the Russian
empire. The Russian people, under Varangian domination,
rapidly increased in power, and reduced many of their neigh-
bours to submission ^. Oskold and Dir, the princes of Kief,
rendered themselves masters of the whole course of the
Dnieper, and it would seem that either commercial jealousy
or the rapacity of ambition produced some collision with the
Byzantine settlements on the northern shores of the Black
Sea; but from what particular circumstances the Russians
were led to make their daring attack on Constantinople is not
known ^. The Emperor Michael had taken the command of
an army to act against the Saracens, and Oryphas, the admiral
of the fleet, acted as governor of the capital during his absence.
Before the Emperor had commenced his military operations,
a fleet of two hundred Russian vessels of small size, taking
advantage of a favourable wind, suddenly passed through the
Bosphorus, and anchored at the mouth of the Black River in
the Propontis, about eighteen miles from Constantinople ^
This Russian expedition had already plundered the shores
of the Black Sea, and from its station within the Bosphorus
it ravaged the country about Constantinople, and plundered
the Prince's Islands, pillaging the monasteries, and slaying the
monks as well as the other inhabitants. The emperor, in-
formed by Oryphas of the attack on his capital, hastened to
its defence. Though a daring and cruel enemy, the Russians
were by no means formidable to the Byzantine forces. It
required no great exertions on the part of the imperial oificers
to equip a force sufficient to attack and put to flight these
invaders ; but the horrid cruelty of the barbarians, and the
wild daring of their Varangian leaders, made a profound
impression on the people of Constantinople, suddenly ren-
dered spectators of the miseries of war, in their most hideous
ment in the text is as true now as when it was written, and ia a proof of great
far-sightedness on the author^s part. £d.]
' Riotius, Epistciae, p. 58.
' La Ckroaique dt Nestor^ traduite par L. Paris, i. 22.
' lUXvot fUka* is the bay at the mouth of the Athyras, Buyuk Tchekmadj^.
The Russian vessels are called iiav6^v\a ; they must have been only decked boats,
and twenty men to each will be an ample allowance. They cannot therefore have
carried more than 4000 men when they passed the Bosphorus. The expedition
seems not unlike those against which, about this time, Alfred had to contend in
England, and Charles the Bald in France.
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190 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[;Bk.i.cai.in,§3.
form, during a moment of perfect security. We need not,
therefore, be surprised to find that the sudden destruction of
these dreaded enemies by the drunken emperor, of whom the
citizens of the capital may have entertained even more con-
tempt than he merited as a soldier, was ascribed to the
miraculous interposition of the Virgin of the Blachem, rather
than to the superior military tactics and overwhelming num-
bers of the imperial forces. How far this expedition of the
Russians must be connected with the enterprising spirit of
those vigorous warriors and pirates from Scandinavia, who
gave sovereigns to Normandy, Naples, Sicily, England, and
Russia, is still a subject of learned discussion ^.
About the same time a fleet, manned by the Saracens of
Crete, plundered the Cyclades, and ravaged the coast of Asia
Minor, carrying off great booty and a number of slaves *. It
would seem that the absence of the Emperor Michael from
Constantinople at the time of the Russian attack was con-
nected with this movement of the Saracens.
Our conceptions of the manner in which the Byzantine
empire was governed during MichaeFs reign, will become
more precise if we enter into some details concerning the
court intrigues and personal conduct of the rulers of the
state. The crimes and assassinations, which figure as the
prominent events of the age in the chronicles of the time,
were not, it is true, the events that decided the fate of the
people ; and they probably excited less interest among
contemporaries who lived beyond the circle of court favour,
than history would lead us to suppose. Each rank of society
had its own robberies and murders to occupy its attention.
The state of society at the court of Constantinople was not
amenable to public opinion, for few knew much of what
passed within the walls of the great palace; but yet the
immense machinery of the imperial administration gave the
* Wilken, Vher die Verhdhnisse der Russen zum Byzanliniscken Reicht, in the
Transactions of the Academy of Berlin, Hist.'PhUolog. Klasse, 1829, p. 88. For
the date of the expedition, see Bayer, De Russorum Prima Expiditione Constat'
tinopoUlana, {Commentarii Acad. Scient, Petropoliianae^ torn, viii.) For the facts,
Leo Gramm. 463; Georg. Mon. 535; the Life of the Patriarch Ignatius, by
Niketas, annexed to the acts of the eighth oecumenic council, and Nestor's
Russian Chronicle,
* Contin. 122. This fleet consisted of twenty Kovfifi&pta, seven ftXiai, and
some aarovpcu ; but it would perhaps be difficult to determine the size and class
of these different vessels.
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STATE OF THE IMPERIAL COURT. 191
A.D. 842-867.]
emperors' power a solid basis, always opposed to the tem-
porary vices of the courtiers. The order which rendered
property secure, and enabled the industrious classes to
prosper, through the equitable administration of the Roman
law, nourished the vitality of the empire, when the madness
of a Nero and the drunkenness of a Michael appeared to
threaten political order with ruin. The people, carefully
secluded from public business, and alnrost without any
knowledge of the proceedings of their government, were in
all probability little better acquainted with the intrigfues and
crimes of their day than we are at present. They acted,
therefore, when some real suffering or imaginary grievance
brought oppression directly home to their interests or their
feelings. Court murders were to them no more than a
tragedy or a scene in the amjAitheatre, at which they were
not present.
Bardas had assassinated Theoktistos to obtain power ; yet,
with all his crimes, he had great natural talents and some
literary taste. He had the reputation of being a good lawyer
and a just judge ; and after he obtained power, he devoted
his attention to watch over the judicial department as the
surest basis of popularity. Nevertheless, we find the govern-
ment of Michael accused of persecuting the wealthy, merely
for the purpose of filling the public treasury by the
confiscation of their property. This was an old Roman
fiscal resource, which had existed ever since the days of the
republic, and whose exercise under the earlier emperors calls
forth the bitterness of Tacitus in some of his most vigorous
pages. After Bardas was elevated to the dignity of Caesar,
his mature age gave him a deeper interest in projects of
ambition than in the wild debauchery of his nephew. He
devoted more time to public business and grave society, and
less to the wine-cup and the imperial feasts. New boon-
companions assembled round Michael, and, to advance their
own fortunes, strove to awaken some jealousy of the Caesar
in the breast of the emperor. They solicited the office of
spies to watch the conduct of one who, they said, was
aspiring to the crown. Michael, seeing Bardas devoted to
improving the administration of justice, reforming abuses in
the army, regulating the affairs of the church, and protecting
learning, felt how much he himself neglected his duties,
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192 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.LCh.m.S3.
and naturally began to suspect his uncle. The refcMination
of the Caesar was an act of sedition against the worthless
emperor.
The favourite parasite of Michael at this time was si man
named Basil, who from a simple groom had risen to the rank
of lord chamberlain. Basil attracted the attention of the
emperor while still a stable-boy in the service of an officer
of the court. The young groom had the good fortune to
overcome a celebrated Bulgarian wrestler at a public wrest-
ling-match. The impression produced by this victory over
a foreigner^ who had been long considered invincible, was
increased by a wonderful display of his power in taming
the wildest horses, for he possessed the singular natural g^t
of subduing horses by a whisper *. The emperor took him
into his service as a groom ; but Basil's skill as a sportsman
soon made him a favourite companion of one who showed
little discrimination in the choice of his associates. Basils
perseverance as a boon-companion at the imperial orgies,
and his devotion to all the whims of the emperor, raised
him quickly to the highest offices of the court, and he was
placed in constant attendance on his sovereign. These
favours awakened the jealousy of Bardas, who su^>ected the
Macedonian groom of the power of whispering to Michael
as well as to horses. At the same time it secured Basil
the support of all the Caesar's enemies, who considered a
drunken groom, even though he had risen to great power at
court, as a person not likely to be their rival in ministerial
offices.
Basil, however, soon received a very high mark of Michael s
personal favour. He was ordered to divorce his wife and
marry Eudocia Ingerina, who had long been the emperor's
mistress ; and it was said that the intercourse continued after
she became the wife of the chamberlain ^. Every ambitious
and debauched officer about the court now looked to the fall
* Basil rendered an ungovernable horse belonging to the euperor as tamt ms
a ikMpt by stretching out his hand to its ear. Leo (kamm. 458.
* The chronicles of Michael's reign accuse the emperor of encouraging a
criminal intercourse between Basil and Thekla his elder sister, apparently as
a recompense for his own intimacy with Eudocia Ingerina after soe beoune
Basil's wife. Symeon Mag. 446; Georg. Mon. 536; Leo Gramm. 464. As
E further illustration of the conduct of these ladies, see Leo Gramm. 471,472;
Geocg. Mon. 545.
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BARD AS MURDERED BY BASIL. 193
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of Bardas as the readiest means of promotion. Symbatios an
Armenian, a patrician and postmaster of the empire, who was
the son-in-law of Bardas, dissatisfied with his father-in-law
for refusing to gratify his inordinate ambition, joined Basil
in accusing the Caesar of plotting to mount the throne.
The emperor, without much hesitation, authorized the two
intriguers to assassinate his uncle.
An expedition for reconquering Crete from the Saracens
was about to sail. The emperor, the Caesar, and Basil all
partook of the holy sacrament together before embarking in
the fleet, which then proceeded along the coast of Asia Minor
to Kepos in the Thrakesian theme ^ Here the army remained
encamped, under the pretext that a sufficient number of
transports had not been assembled. Bardas expressed great
dissatisfaction at this delay ; and one day, while he was urging
Michael to give orders for the immediate embarkation of the
troops, he was suddenly attacked by Symbatios and Basil,
and murdered at the emperor's feet. Basil, who, as chamber-
lain, had conducted him to the imperial tent, stabbed him in
the back.
The accomplished but unprincipled Bardas being removed,
the project of invading Crete was abandoned, and Michael
returned to the capital. On entering Constantinople, however,
it was evident that the assassination of his uncle had given
universal dissatisfaction. Bardas, with all his faults, was the
best of Michael's ministers, and the failure of the expedition
against Crete was attributed to his death. As Michael passed
through the streets, a monk greeted him with this bitter
salutation : — * All hail, emperor I all hail from your glorious
campaign! You return covered with blood, and it is your
own I ' The imperial guards attempted in vain to arrest the
fanatic ; the people protected him, declaring he was mad.
The assassination of Bardas took place in the spring of
866; and on the 26th of May, Michael rewarded Basil by
proclaiming him his colleague, with the title of Emperor 2.
Symbatios expected that his participation in his father-in-
law's murder would have secured him the title of Caesar;
but he soon perceived he had injured his own fortunes by
his crime. He now sought to obtain by open force what
* Probably near Halicarnassus or Cnidus. • Contia. 129,
VOL. 11. O
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194 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.III.f3.
he had failed to gain by private murder. He succeeded in
drawing Peganes, who commanded the troops in the Opsikian
theme, into his conspiracy. The two rebels took up arms,
and proclaimed that their object was not to dethrone Michael,
but to depose Basil. Though they drew together a consider-
able body of troops, rendered themselves masters of a great
extent of country, and captured many merchant-ships on their
passage to Constantinople, they did not venture to attack the
capital. Their plan was ill concerted, for before the end of
the summer they had allowed themselves to be completely
surrounded by the imperial troops. Peganes was taken
prisoner at Kotiaeion, and conducted to Constantinople,
where his eyes were put out. He was then placed in the
Milion, with a platter in his hand, to ask charity from the
passers-by. Symbatios was subsequently captured at Kel-
tizene. When he reached Constantinople, he was conducted
before Michael. Peganes was brought out to meet him, with
a censer of earthenware filled with burning sulphur instead of
incense. Symbatios was then deprived of one of his eyes,
and his right hand was cut off. In this condition he was
placed before the palace of Lausus, with a dish on his
knees, as a common beggar. After exhibiting his rebellious
officers in this position for three days, Michael allowed them
to be imprisoned in their own houses. When Basil mounted
the throne, they were pardoned as men no longer dangerous.
The d^rading punishment to which two men of the highest
rank in the empire were subjected, made a deep impression
on the people of Constantinople. The figure of Peganes — a
soldier of high reputation — ^standing in the Milion, askii^
for an obolos, with a platter in his hand like a blind b^;gar,
haunted their imagination, and, finding its way into the
romances of the age, was borrowed to illustrate the greatest
vicissitudes of court favour, and give colouring to the strongest
pictures of the ingratitude of emperors. The fate of Planes
and Symbatios, woven into a tale called the Life of Belisarius,
in which the interest of tragic sentiment was heightened by
much historical and local truth, has gained immortality in
European literature, and confounded the critical sagacity of
eminent modern writers ^.
* Compare Constant. Porph3rr. {Vila Basilii, in Script, post Theoph, 150, 163)
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■ MICHAEL AND BASIL EMPERORS. 195
AJ).842-867.]
One of the few acts which are recorded of the joint reign
of Michael and Basil was the desecration of the tomb of
Constantine V. (Copronymus). This base act was perpetrated
to flatter a powerful party in the church, of which the leading
members were hostile to Bardas, on account of his persecution
of Ignatius. The precarious position of Photius after the
murder of his patron, and the inherent subserviency of the
Greek ecclesiastical dignitaries, made him ready to counten-
ance any display of orthodoxy, however bigoted, that pleased
the populace. The memory of Constantine V. was still
cherished by no inconsiderable number of Iconoclasts.
Common report still boasted of the wealth and power to
which the empire had attained under the just administration
of the Iconoclast emperors, and their conduct served as a
constant reproach to Michael. The people, however, were
easily persuaded that the great exploits of Constantine V.,
and the apparent prosperity of his reig^, had been the work
of the devil. The sarcophagus in which the body of this
great emperor reposed was of green marble, and of the
richest workmanship. By the order of the drunken Michael
and the Sclavonian gfroom Basil it was broken open, and
the body, after having lain for upwards of ninety years in
peace, was dragged into the circus, where the body of John
the Grammarian, torn also from the tomb, was placed beside
It. The remains of these great men were beaten with rods to
amuse the vilest populace, and then burned in the Amas-
trianon — ^the filthiest quarter of the capital, and the place
often used for the execution of malefactors ^. The splendid
sarcophagus of Constantine was cut in pieces by order of
with Symeon Mag. (449)t Georg. Mon. (540), and Leo Gramm. (467) ; and for the
resemblance with the fable of Belisarius, the anon3rmous author of AntiquitUs of
Constantino^^ in Banduri, Imperium Orienialt (i. 7), and Jbannis Tzetzae Hist,
Var, Chitiades (94, edit. Kiessling.) ; also Lord Mahon, Life of Belisarius^ who
tries to support the fable; and ' Belisarius ~was he blind?' in Blackwood's
Magazmi for May 1847, where the^ connection of the fable with history is
pomted out. It may be worth mentioning, moreoyer, that Zacharia {Historian
Juris Graeeo-Romani Delineation 58) and Mbrtreuil (Histoire du Droit Byzantin^
ii. 499) have both fallen into an error in supposing this Symbatios, who had
lost an eye and his right hand during the reign of Michael III., to be the same
person as the Symbatios or Sabbatios who assisted Leo VI. in the revision of
theBasilika.
* Georg. Mon. 540; Leo Gramm. 467. The anonymous author of the Ant,
Constant. (Banduri, Imp. Orient, ao) says that the Amastrianon was a favourite
resort of demons. See the notes to torn. ii. 558.
02
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196 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.in.§3.
Michael, to form a balustrade in a new chapel he was con-
structing at Pharos.
The drunkenness of Michael brought on delirium tremens,
and rendered him liable to fits of madness. He observed that
Basil's desire to maintain the high position he had reached
produced the same reformation in his conduct which had been
visible in that of Bardas. The Emperor Basil became a very
different man from Basil the chamberlain. The change ren-
dered Michael dissatisfied with his colleague, and in one of
his fits of madness he invested another of the companions of
his orgies, named Basiiiskian, with the imperial title.
In such a court there could be little doubt that the three
emperors, Michael, Basil, and Basiiiskian, could not long hold
joint sway. It was probably a race who should first be the
murderer of his colleagues, and in such cases the ablest man is
generally the most successful criminal Basil, having reason
to fear for his own safety, planned the assassination of his
benefactor with great deliberation. The murder was carried
into execution after a supper party given by Theodora to her
son in the palace of Anthimos, after he had spent a day
hunting on the Asiatic coast. Basil and his wife, Eudoda
Ingerina, were invited by the empress-mother to meet her
son, for all decency was banished from tiiis most orthodox
court. Michael, according to his usual habit, was carried from
the supper table in a state of intoxication, and Basil accom-
panied his colleague to his chamber, of which he had previously
rendered the lock useless. Basiiiskian, the third of this in-
famous trio, was sleeping, in a state of intoxication, on the
bed placed in the imperial apartment for the chamberlain on
duty. The chamberlain, on following his master, found the
lock of the door useless and the bolts broken, but did not
think of calling for assistance to secure the entrance in the
palace of the empress-mother.
Basil soon returned, attended by John of Chaldia, a Persian
officer named Apelates, a Bulgarian named Peter, Constantine
Toxaras, his own father Bardas, his brother Marinos, and his
cousin Ayleon. The chamberlain immediately guessed their
purpose, and opposed their entry into the chamber. Michael,
disturbed by the noise, rose from his drunken sleep, and was
attacked by John of Chaldia, who cut off both his hands
with a blow of his sabre. The emperor fell on the ground.
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ASSASSINATION OF MICHAEL III. 197
AJ). 842-867.]
Basiliskian was slain in the mean time by Apelates. Con-
stantine Toxaras, with the relatives of Basil, guarded the
door and the corridor leading to the apartment, lest the
officers of the emperor or the servants of Theodora should
be alarmed by the noise. The shouts of the chamberlain and
the cries of Michael alarmed Basil and those in the chamber,
and they rushed into the corridor to secure their retreat. But
the tumult of debauchery had been often as loud, and the
cries of murder produced no extraordinary sensation where
Michael was present. All remaining silent without, some of
the conspirators expressed alarm lest Michael should not be
mortally wounded. John of Chaldia, the boldest of the
assassins, returned to make his work sure. Finding the
emperor sitting on the floor uttering bitter lamentations, he
plunged his sword into his heart, and then returned to assure
Basil that all was finished.
The conspirators crossed over to Constantinople, and having
secured their entrance into the imperial palace by means of
two Persians, Eulogios and Artabasd, who- were on guard,
Basil was immediately proclaimed sole emperor, and the
death of Michael III. was publicly announced. In the morn-
ing the body of Michael was interred in a monastery at
Chrysopolis, near the palace of Anthimos. Theodora was
allowed to direct the funeral ceremonies of the son whom her
own neglect had conducted to an early and Tbloody death.
The people of Constantinople appear to have taken very
little interest in this infamous assassination, by which a small
band of mercenary adventurers transferred the empire of the
Romans from the Amorian dynasty to a Macedonian groom,
whose family reigned at Constantinople for two centuries,
with greater power and glory than the Eastern emperors had
attained since the days of Justinian.
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CHAPTER IV.
State of the Byzantine Empire during the
Iconoclast Period,
Sect, L — PuMic Admifdstraiwn^Dipiomatk and Comfmrdal
Relaiions,
Const.inthiople neither a Greek nor a Roman cily,^ — The Greek race not the
dommjiJit people in the cmpiirc-CirciimStaac^rs which modified de^polic
power*— Extent of the empire*— Militiiry slrength.^ — Loss of Italy, Sicily,
and Crete,— Embassy of John the Grammarian to Bagdad^ — Conuserdal
policy,— Wealtli.
In anctent times, when the civilization of the Greek people
had attained its highest degree of moral culture, the Hellenic
race was assailed almost simultaneously by the Persians,
Carthaginiansj and Tyrrhenians, The victories obtained over
these enemies are still regarded as the triumphs on which the
political civilization of Europe, and of the great dwelling-place
of liberty beyond the Atlantic, is based ^ The age of Leo
the Isaurian found the government of the Byzantine empire in
a position not v^ery dissimilar from that of the Greek race in
the time of Miltiades. The Athenian people fought for poli-
tical progress on the plain of Marathon. Leo battled for law
and administration behind the walls of Constantinople; the
victory of Miltiades secured only one hundred and Mty years
of liberty to the Greeks, that of the Iconoclast gave nearly
five centuries of despotic power to a system hostile to the
development of the human intellect. The voice of fame has
conferred immortal gloiy on the doubtful virtues of the
Athenian general, and treated with neglect the profound
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STATE OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 199
statesmanship of the stem Isaurian sovereign; and it has
done so not unjustly, for the gratitude of all succeeding ages
is due to those who extend the political ideas of mankind,
whereas those who only preserve property must be satisfied
with the applause of the proprietors. Nevertheless the Icono-
clast period of Byzantine history presents a valuable study
to the historian, both in what it did and what it left undone —
in the greatness of the imperial administration, and the little-
ness of the people who were its subjects.
The Byzantine empire passed through a more dangerous
ordeal than classic Greece, inasmuch as patriotism is a surer
national bulwark than mechanical administration. The
struggle for the preservation of Constantinople from the
Saracens awakens no generous feelings and noble aspirations ;
it only teaches those who examine history as political phi-
losophers, what social and administrative tendencies a free
people ought carefully to avoid. On this subject the scanty
annals of the Greek people, as slaves of the Byzantine em-
perors, though far from an attractive chapter in history, are
filled with much premonitory instruction for nations in an
advanced social condition.
Neither the Emperors of Constantinople, though they styled
themselves Emperors of the Romans, nor their subjects, though
calling themselves Roman citizens, sought at this period 'to
identify themselves with the reminiscences of the earlier Roman
Empire. The Romans of Italy and the Greeks of Hellas had
both fallen very low in public opinion ^. Constantinople, as a
Christian capital, claimed to be the mistress of a new world,
and the emperors of the East considered themselves masters
of all the territories of Rome, because the dominion over all
Christians was a right inherent in the emperor of the orthodox.
But Constantinople was founded as an antagonist to old Rome,
and this antagonism has always been a portion of its exist-
ence. As a Christian city, its church and its ecclesiastical
language always stood in opposition to the church and eccle-
siastical language of Rome. The thoughts of the one were
* See Pausanias (Achaica^ xvii. a) for the character the Greeks bore in the time
of Vespasian ; and the passage of Luitprand (in Muratori, Script. Rer. leal. ii.
aus 1. 481) for that of^the Romans. Gibbon says, *For the sins of Cato or
Tally. Minos might have imposed as a fit penance the daily perusal of this
barbarous passage;' ch. :dix, noit 44 ; vol. vi. p. 151, Smith's edit.
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[Bk.LCh.IV. §1.
never transferred in their pure conception to the mind of the
other. For several centuries Latin was the language of the
court, of the civil government, and of the higher ranks at
Constantinople. In the time of Leo IIL, and during the
Byzantine Empire, Greek was the language of the adminis-
tration and the people, as well as of the church ; but we are
not to suppose, from that circumstance, that the inhabitants
of the city considered themselves as Greeks by descent.
Even by the populace the term would have been looked
upon as one of reproach, applicable as a national appellation
only to the lower orders of society in the Hellenic themes.
The people of Constantinople and of the Byzantine empire at
large, in their civil capacity, were Romans, and in their
religious, orthodox Christians ; in no social relation, whether
of race or nationality, did they consider themselves Greeks.
At the succession of Leo III., the Hellenic race occupied
a very subordinate position in the empire. The predominant
influence in the political administration was in the hands of
Asiatics, and particularly of Armenians, who filled the highest
military commands. The family of Leo the Isaurian was said
to be of Armenian descent ; Nicephorus I. was descended from
an Arabian family ; Leo V. was an Armenian ; Michael II., the
founder of the Amorian dynasty, was of a Phrygian stock.
So that, for a century and a half, the Empress Irene appears
to be the only sovereign of pure Greek blood who occupied
the imperial throne, though it is probable that Michael
Rhangab6 was an Asiatic Greek. Of the numerous rebels
who assumed the title of Emperor, the greater part were
Armenians^. Indeed, Kosmas, who was elected by the Greeks
when they attacked Constantinople in the year 727, was the
only rebel of the Greek nation who attempted to occupy the
throne for a century and a half. Artabasdos, who rebelled
against his brother-in-law Constantine V., was an Armenian.
Alexios Mousel, strangled by order of Constantine VI. in the
year 790 ; Bardan, called the Turk, who rebelled against
Nicephorus I.; Arsaber, the father-in-law of Leo V., convicted
of treason in 808 ; and Thomas, who revolted against Michael
* See the conjectures of Saint-Martin on the Armenian origin of these officers,
in his edition of Le Beau, Hisioire du Bat-Empiret xii. 355, note 3 ; ^04, noU 3 ;
431, ttot€ 2 ; also Chamich, History qf Armeniaf translated by J. Avdall, Calcutta,
1827; i. 395. 399.
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11^ were all Asiatics, and most of them Armenians. Another
Alexios Mousel, who married Maria, the favourite daughter
of Theophilus; Theophobos, the brother-in-law of the same
emperor ; and Manuel, who became a member of the council
of r^ency at his death, were likewise of foreign Asiatic
descent. Many of the Armenians in the Byzantine empire
belonged to the oldest and most illustrious families of the
Christian world, and their connection with the remains of
Roman society at Constantinople, in which the pride of birth
was cherished, is a proof that Asiatic influence had eclipsed
Roman and Greek in the government of the empire. Before
this happened, the Roman aristocracy transplanted to Con-
stantinople must have become nearly extinct. New names
make their first appearance under the Iconoclasts ; and the
earliest are those of Doukas, Skleros, and Melissenos^ The
order introduced into society by the political and ecclesiastical
reforms of Leo III., gave a permanence to high birth and
great wealth, which constituted henceforth a claim to high
office. A degree of certainty attended the transmission of
all social advantages which never before existed in the Roman
empire. This change would alone establish the fact that the
reforms of Leo III. had rendered life and property more
secure, and consequently circumscribed the arbitrary power
of preceding emperors by stricter forms of administrative and
l^al procedure. An amusing instance of the influence of
aristocratic and Asiatic prejudices at Constantinople will
appear in the eagerness displayed by Basil I., a Sclavonian
groom from Macedonia, to claim descent from the Armenian
royal family. The defence of this absurd pretension is given
by his grandson, Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus)^
It is difficult to draw an exact picture of the Byzantine
government at this period, for facts^can easily be collected,
which, if viewed in perfect isolation, would, according to our
modern ideas, warrant the conclusion, either that it was a
tyrannical despotism, or a mild legal monarchy. The personal
exercise of power by the emperor, in punishing his officers
with death and stripes, without trial, and his constant inter-
ference with the administration of justice, contrast strongly
* Aucloris incerti Historia, at the end of Theophanes, 438 ; Contin. 14.
' Constant. Forphyr. Basilius, 133.
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with the boldness displayed by the monks and clergy in op-
posing his power. In order to form a correct estimate of the
real position occupied by the Byzantine empire in the pro-
gressive improvement of the human race, it is necessary to
compare it, on the one hand, with the degraded Roman empire
which it replaced ; and on the other, with the arbitrary govern-
ment of the Mohammedans, and the barbarous administration
of the northern nations, which it resisted. The regularity of
its civil, financial, and judicial administration, the defensive
power of its military and naval establishments, are remarkable
in an age of temporary measures and universal aggression.
The state of education, and the moral position of the clergy,
offer favourable points of comparison with the brilliant em-
pires of Haroun Al Rashid and Charlemagne. On the other
hand, fiscal rapacity was the incurable canker of the Byzan-
tine, as it had been of the Roman government From it arose
all those measures which reduced society to a stationary con-
dition. No class of men was invested with a constitutional or
legal authority to act as defenders of the people's rights
against the fiscality of the imperial administration. Insurrec-
tion, rebellion, and revolution were the only means of obtain-
ing either reform or justice, when the interests of the treasury
were concerned. Yet even in this branch of its administration
no other absolute government ever displayed equal prudence
and honesty. Respect for the law was regarded by the
emperors as self-respect; and the power possessed by the
clergy, who in some degree participated in popular feelings,
contributed to temper and restrain the exercise of arbitrary
rule.
Yet the Byzantine empire, however superior it might be to
contemporary governments, presents points of resemblance,
which prove that the social condition of its population was in
no inconsiderable degree affected by some general causes
operating on the condition of human civilization in the East
and the West. The seventh century was a period of disorgan-
ization in the Eastern Empire, and of anarchy in all the
kingdoms formed out of the provinces of the Western. Even
throughout the dominions of the Saracens, in spite of the
power and energy of the central administration of the caliphs,
the nations under their rule were in a declining state.
The first step towards the constitution of modem society
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was made at Constantinople about the commencement of the
eighth century. The reign of Leo III. opens a new social era
for mankind, as well as for the Eastern Empire. Much of
this amelioration may be traced to the infusion of new vigour
into society from popular feelings, of which it is difficult to
trace the causes or the development. The Byzantine empire,
though it regained something of the old Roman vigour at the
centre of its power, was unable to prevent the loss of several
provinces ; and Basil I. governed an empire of smaller extent
than Leo III. reconstituted, though one that was far richer
and more powerful. The exarchate of Ravenna, Rome, Crete,
and Sicily had passed under the dominion of hostile states.
Venice had become completely independent. On the other
hand, it must be remembered, that in 717 the Saracens occu-
pied great part of Asia Minor, and that they had been almost
entirely expelled from it before 867. The only conquest of
which the emperors of Constantinople could boast was the
complete subjugation of the allied city of Cherson to the
central administration, Cherson had previously enjoyed a
d^ree of political independence which had for centuries
secured its commercial prosperity. Its local freedom was de-
stroyed by Theophilus, who sent his brother-in-law Petronas
to occupy it with an army, and govern it as an imperial pro-
vince. The power of the empire was, however, only momen-
tarily increased by the destruction of the liberties of Cherson ;
the city declined rapidly from the degree of wealth and energy
which had enabled it to afford military aid to Constantine the
Great, and to resist the tyranny of Justinian II., and lost much
of its commercial importance.
Historians generally speak of the Byzantine empire at this
period as if it had been destitute of military power. Events
as far removed from one another, in point of tihie, as our own
misfortunes in India at the Black Hole of Calcutta and the
massacre of Cabul, are cited to prove that the Byzantine
government was incapable, and the Byzantine army feeble
and unwarlike. The truth is this, the Byzantine empire was
a highly civilized society, and consequently its tendencies
were essentially defensive when those of the rest of the world
were aggressive. The Saracens, Franks, and Bulgarians were
nations devoted to war, and yet the Byzantine empire effectu-
ally resisted and long outlived these empires of warriors. No
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contemporary government possessed a permanent military
establishment so perfectly organized as the emperor of Con-
stantinople, nor could any bring into the field, on a sudden
exigency, a better appointed army. The caliphs had the
power of deluging the frontier provinces with large bodies of
light troops which could not be prevented from plundering
the country, for the imperial armies were compelled to act on
the defensive, and defensive warfare can rarely protect all the
assailable points of an extensive frontier. Whole provinces
were therefore often laid waste and depopulated ; yet, under
the Iconoclast emperors, the Byzantine territories increased in
prosperity. The united attacks of the Saracens, Bulgarians,
and Franks inflicted trifling evils on the Byzantine empire,
compared with what the predatory incursions of small bands
of Normans inflicted on the empire of the successors of Char-
lemagne, or the incessant rebellions and civil wars on the
dominions of the caliphs.
The Saracens devoted the immense wealth of their empire
to their military establishment, and they were certainly more
formidable enemies to the Byzantine emperors than the
Parthians had been to the Romans ; yet the emperors of Con-
stantinople successfully resisted these powerful enemies. The
Saracen troops were no way inferior to the Byzantine in arms,
discipline, artillery, and military science ; their cavalry was
mailed from head to foot, each horseman bearing a lance, a
scimitar, and a bow slung over his shoulder. Their discipline
was of the strictest kind, and their armies moved not only
with catapultas and military engines for field service, but also
with all the materials and machines requisite for besieging
cities. Under Kassim a band of six thousand men ventured
to invade India ^ ; yet the caliphs never thought of encounter-
ing the Byzantine army unless with immense numbers of their
chosen warriors ; and they sustained more signal defeats from
the emperors of Constantinople than from all the other ene-
mies they encountered together. The bloody contests and
hard-fought battles with the armies of the caliphs in Asia
Minor, entitle the Byzantine army to rank for several centuries
as one of the best the world has ever seen.
The Bulgarians were likewise dangerous enemies. Their
^ Elphinstone's History of tht Mohammedans in India, i. 51a.
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continual wars gave them no mean knowledge of military-
science ; and the individual soldiers, from their habits of life,
possessed great activity and powers of endurance. In the
wars at the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth
centuries they fought completely armed in steel, and pos-
sessed military engines of every kind then known. We have
the testimony of a Byzantine writer, that the armies of Crumn
were supplied with every warlike machine discovered by the
engineering knowledge of the Romans ^
In all the scientific departments of war, in the application
of mechanical and chemical skill to the art of destruction, and
in the construction of engines for the attack and defence of
fortresses, there can be no doubt that the Byzantine engineers
were no way inferior to the Roman ; for in the arsenals of
Constantinople, the workmen and the troops had been un-
interruptedly employed from generation to generation in
executing and infproving the same works. One important
invention changed, in some degree, the art of defence on
shore, and of attack at sea : this was the discovery of Greek
fire, and the method of launching it to a certain distance from
brazen tubes. The Byzantine forces both by land and sea
were indebted for many victories to the skill with which they
applied this invention to aid their tactics.
Th^ aristocracy of the Byzantine empire, though not exclu-
sively devoted to war, like the nobility of other contemporary
nations, was still deeply imbued with the military spirit. No
state can boast of a greater number of warlike sovereigns
than the Byzantine empire, from the accession of Leo III. to
the death of Michael III. During this period of a century and
a half, not one of the emperors failed to appear at the head
of the army; and Leo III., Constantine V., Leo V., Michael II.,
and Theophilus, were experienced generals ; the careless
Constantine VI. and the debauched Michael III. appeared
to greater advantage in the camp than in the capital ; and it
was only the weak, religious persecutor, Michael Rhangab^,
who was absolutely contemptible as a soldier.
Amidst this military energy, nothing seems more remarkable
than the indifference with which the loss of central Italy, and
* The army of Crumn consisted of 30,000 bXoalhjpoi, Aud. ineert. Hist., at the
end of Theophanes, 434 ; where notice the list of military engines.
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the islands of Crete and Sicily, was viewed by the Byzantine
government ^. It would seem that the value of these distant
provinces was estimated at Constantinople solely by the
amount of revenue they produced to the imperial treasury^
and that when the expenses of a province absorbed all its
revenues, or its reconquest was found to entail a d^ree
of outlay that was never likely to be repaid, the emperors
were often indifferent to the loss.
The foundation of the Frank empire by Charles Martel
very nearly corresponds with the organization of the Byzantine
by Leo III. The invasion of Italy by Pepin, A. D. 754, and the
temporal authority conceded to the popes, compelled the
Byzantine emperors to enter into negotiations with Charle-
magne on a footing of equality. The importance of maintain-
ing friendly relations with Constantinople is said by Eginhard
to have influenced Charlemagne in affecting to receive the
imperial crown from the Pope by surprise ; he wished to be
able to plead that his election as emperor of the West was
unsought on his part. Interest silenced pride on both sides,
and diplomatic relations were established between the two
emperors of the East and the West,; embassies and presents
were sent from Constantinople to Charlemagne and his
successors, treaties were concluded, and the Byzantine
government became in some degi'ee connected with the inter-
national system of mediaeval Europe ^. The superiority still
* The exarchate extended from the Po to Fermo, and included all the conntiy
between the Adriatic and the Apennines. The Pentapolis, now the Marca
d^Ancona, comprised the country from Rimini to Fermo. The dudiy of Rome
embraced the patrimony of St. Peter and the Campagna.
' Michael II. sent a copy of the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite
to Louis le D^bonnaire, as a valuable present, in 824. The regency of Theodoia
attached considerable importance to the embassies sent to Lothaire and Louis II.
Schlosser, 566. [It is important that we should understand the position of the
West relatively to the East in respect of the establishment of the empire under
Cbarles the Great. There was no idea on the part of the Westerns at that time
of revivinc; the empire of the West; when that came to an end in a.d. 476, it
was considered to be merged in the Eastern Empire, so that from that time there
was, as there had been before Diocletian, a single undivided Roman Empire.
The object of Charles was to get himself recognized as in some sense the stio>
cessor of the Eastern emperors, and with this view he went so fiu-. if we are
to trust Theophanes (401), as to seek the hand of Irene in marriage. When
these negotiations foiled, the Westerns, in order to remedy the evident flaw in
their title, and give their act a semblance of legality, professed that they were
not revolting against a reigning sovereign, but legitimately filling up the place
of the deposed Constantine VL * Charles was held to be the legitimate successor,
not of Romulus Aufi;ustulus, but of Heraclius, Justinian, Arcadius, and the whole
Eastern line ; and hence it is that in all the annals of the time and of many
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held by the court of Constantinople in public opinion is
manifest in the Greek salutations with which the Pope
flattered Charlemagne at the commencement of his letters ;
yet Greek official salutations had only lately supplanted
Latin at Constantinople itself ^
The political alliances and diplomatic relations of the
Byzantine court were very extensive ; but the most impor-
tant were those with the Khan of the Khazars, who ruled all
the northern shores of the Caspian Sea, and with the Ommiad
caliphs of Spain. Scandinavian ambassadors who had passed
through Russia visited the splendid court of Theophilus ; but
their mission related rather to mercantile questions, or to the
manner of furnishing recruits to the mercenary legions at
Constantinople, than to political alliance \
The remarkable embassy of John the Grammarian, who
was sent by Theophilus as ambassador to the Caliph Motas-
sem, deserves particular notice, as illustrating the external
character of Byzantine diplomacy ^ The avowed object of
the mission was to conclude a treaty of peace, but the
ambassador had secret instructions to employ every art of
persuasion to induce Manuel, one of the ablest generals of the
empire, who had distinguished himself greatly in the civil
wars of the Saracens, to return to his allegiance. The
personal qualities of John rendered him peculiarly well suited
for this embassy. To great literary attainments he joined a
d^^ee of scientific knowledge, which gained him the reputa-
tion of a magician, and he was perfectly acquainted with the
Arabic language*. All these circumstances insured him a
succeeding centuries, the name of Constantine VI., the sixty-seventh in order from
Augustas, is followed without a break by that of Charles, the sixty-eighth.*
Bryce's Holy Roman Empire^ 4th edit. pp. 60-63. Finlay's statements on this
subject, therefore, on p. 78, require to be somewhat modified. Ed.]
* Constant Porphyr. De Caeremon. Aulae Byzantinae, ii. 39.
' Schlosser, Oeschiehte der bildenlurmendin Kaiser, 483.
» There is some difficulty in fixing the precise date of this embassy. Weil (ii. 297)
with great probability places it at the end of 833. Compare Contin. 60 ; Symeon
Mag. 419 ; Genesius, 39 ; Leo Gramm. 453 ; also note 3 at p. 149 of this volume.
• The people of Constantinople regarded Leo, the archbishop of Thessalonica,
as a necromancer or magician, as well as John, on account of the great mechanical
works executed under his direction. This need not appear surprising, when we
recollect that English tradition ascribes feats of magic to a hero so modem as
Sir Francis Drake, for executing the aqueduct that supplies Plymouth with water.
It was completed with wondeHul celerity, and hence the people relate that Sir
Francis made a contract with the devil, in virtue of which the water flowed after
bis horse's feet as he galloped from the spring to the town. Roger Bacon, on
account of his rare knowledge as a natural philosopher, and Faustus as the first
printer, were both supposed to have unlawful dealings with the other world.
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good reception at the court of Bagdad, which had been so
lately and so long governed by the Caliph Almamun, one of
the greatest encouragers of science and literature who ever
occupied a throne. The Byzantine ambassador was equally
celebrated for his knowledge of medicine, architecture,
mechanics, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, and astrology;
and probably even the Caliph Motassem, though a free-
thinker and a disbeliever in the divine origin of the Koran,
shared so much of the popular belief as to credit the tale that
the learned Christian priest could read the secrets of futurity
in a brazen basin, and felt great curiosity to converse with a
man who possessed this rare gift ^
On quitting Constantinople, John was furnished with the
richest furniture, splendid carpets, damasked silk hangings,
and plate chased and inlaid with the most beautiful ornaments
from the imperial palaces, to which was added 400 lb. of gold
for the current expenses of the embassy.
According to the usage of the East, the ambassador was
lodged at Bagdad in a palace furnished by the caliph. The
magnificent style in which the diplomatic priest installed
himself in the apartments he reserved for his own use made a
sensation at the court of Motassem, though many then living
had witnessed the splendour of Haroun Al Rashid. This
lavish display of wealth was better adapted to gratify the
vanity of Theophilus than to advance the conclusion of a
lasting peace. If we could place implicit confidence in the
stories recorded by the Byzantine writers, of various tricks to
which the ambassador resorted in order to augment the
wonder of the Saracen nobles at the enormous wealth of the
Christians, we should be inclined to question the judgment of
John himself. His conduct could only have originated in
personal pride ; and the course attributed to him would have
been more likely to excite the Mohammedans to active
warfare, where they had a prospect of plundering so rich an
enemy, than of persuading them to conclude a treaty of
peace.
One anecdote, dwelt on with peculiar satisfaction, deserves to
be recorded. John possessed a splendid golden basin and ewer.
1
' When we call to mind the animal magnetism and table-turning of our own
day, we need not be surprised at the brazen magnetism of another age.
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richly chased and ornamented with jewels, and of this he
made a great display. Throughout the East, and in
many parts of European Turkey at the present day, where
knives and forks are not yet in use, it is the practice to wash
the hands immediately before commencing a meal, and on
rising from the table. A servant pours water from a ewer
over the hands of the guest, while another holds a basin to
receive it as it falls. This, being done by each guest in turn,
would leave ample time for observing the magnificent golden
utensils of John at the entertainments he was in the habit of
giving to the leading men in Bagdad. At a grand entertain-
ment given by the Byzantine ambassador to the principal
nobility of the caliph's court, the slaves rushed into the
hall where the guests were assembled, and infoi*med John, in
a state of great alarm, that his magnificent golden basin was
not to be found. The Saracens eagerly suggested measures
for its recovery; but John treated the affair with indifference,
and calmly ordered his steward to give the slaves another.
Soon two slaves appeared, one bearing in his hand a golden
ewer, and the other a basin, larger and more valuable, if not
more elegant, than that which it was supposed had been
stolen. These had been hitherto kept concealed, on purpose
to attract public attention by this pitiful trick.
John, however, gained the respect of the Saracens by his
disinterested conduct, for he declined to receive any present
of value for himself, even from the caliph. Motassem,
therefore, presented him with a hundred Christian captives ;
but even then he sent immediately to Theophilus, to beg
him to return a like number of Saracen prisoners to the
caliph. No general exchange of prisoners, however, appears
to have been effected at the time of this embassy, which,
with other circumstances, affords a proof that the avowed
object of the embassy totally failed. When John returned
to Constantinople, he persuaded the Emperor Theophilus
to construct the palace of Bryas in the varied style of
Saracenic architecture, of which those who have seen the
interior of the palaces at Damascus, the work of Owen Jones
on the Alhambra, or the Alhambra court at the crystal palace
of Sydenham, with its gorgeous ornaments, can alone form an
adequate idea.
The great wealth of the Byzantine government at this
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period was derived from the commercial pre-eminence it
then enjoyed among the nations of the earth. The com-
merce of Europe centred at Constantinople in the eighth
and ninth centuries more completely than it has ever since
done in any one city ^. The principles of the government,
which reprobated monopoly, and the moderation of its duties,
which repudiated privileges, were favourable to the extension
of trade. While Charlemagne ruined the internal trade of his
dominions by fixing a maximum of prices, and destroyed
foreign commerce under the persuasion that, by discouragii^
luxury, he could enable his subjects to accumulate treasures
which he might afterwards extort or filch into his own
treasury, Theophilus prohibited the persons about his court
from engaging in mercantile speculations, lest by so doing
they should injure the r^^lar channels of commercial
intercourse, by diminishing the profits of the individual
dealer*. Theophilus proclaimed that commerce was the
principal source of the wealth of his people, and that as
many derived their means of subsistence from trade, and
drew from it alone the funds for payment of the public
burdens, any interference with the liberty of commerce was
a public as well as a private injury. The political importance
of the commercial classes induced Irene, when she usurped
the empire, to purchase their favour by diminishing the
duties levied at the passages of the Bosphorus and the
Hellespont ^.
During this period the western nations of Europe drew their
supplies of Indian commodities from Constantinople, and the
Byzantine empire supplied them with all the gold coin in
circulation for several centuries.
The Greek navy, both mercantile and warlike, was the most
numerous then in existence. Against the merchant-ships of
, the Greeks, the piratical enterprises of the Egyptian, African,
and Spanisdi Arabs were principally directed. Unfortunately
we possess no authentic details of the commercial state of the
^ The short reign of Theodosius m. was distinguished by the conclusion oT
a very important commercial treaty with the Bulgarians, which was taken as
the basis of the fiscal stipulations for a long period. Tlieoph. 421, and notes,
ibid. 665.
* Compare the Capitularies of Charlemagne, a.d. 805, art 5, with the conduct
of Theophilus. Contin. 55.
f Theoph. 401.
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Byzantine empire, nor of the Greek population during the
Iconoclast period, yet we may safely transfer to this time
the records that exist proving the extent of Greek commerce
under the Basilian dynasty. Indeed, we must remember
that, as the ignorance and poverty of western Europe was
much greater in the eleventh and twelfth centuries than in
the eighth and ninth, we may conclude that Byzantine
commerce was also greater during the earlier period.
The influence of the trade of the Arabians with the East
Indies on the supply of the markets of western Europe has
been overrated, and that of the Greeks generally lost sight of.
This is, in some degree, to be attributed to the circumstance
that the most westerly nations, in the times preceding the
Crusades, were better acquainted with the commerce and the
literature of the Arabs of Spain than with those of the
Byzantine Greeks, and also to the preservation of an inter-
esting account of the extensive voyages of the Arabs in the
Indian seas during this very period, when we are deprived
of all records of Byzantine commerced The Byzantine
markets drew their supplies of Indian and Chinese productions
from Central Asia, the trade passing north of the caliph's
dominions through the territory of the Khazars to the Black
Sea. This route was long frequented by the Christians, to
avoid the countries in the possession of the Mohammedans,
and was the highway of European commerce for several
centuries. Though it appears at present a far more difficult
and expensive route than that by the Red Sea and the
Indian Ocean, it was really safer, more rapid, and more
economical, in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. This
requires no proof to those who are acquainted with caravan
life in the East, and who reflect on the imperfections of
ancient navigation, and the dangers and delays to which
sailing vessels of any burden are exposed in the Red Sea.
When the Venetians and Genoese began to surpass the
Greeks in commercial enterprise, they endeavoured to occupy
this route ; and we have some account of the line it followed,
and the manner in which it was carried on, after the East had
been thrown into confusion by the conquests of the Crusaders
* See Rilaeion dn Voyag9$ fails par les Arabu tt Perums dans VInde #/ ^ la Chitts
dans U tuttviims Steele, Traduction et Eclairdssements par Reinaud ; Abulphara*
gins, Hist. Dyn. 384.
P %
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[Bk.l.Ch.IV.51.
and Tartars, in the travels of Marco Polo. For several
centuries the numerous cities of the Byzantine empire
supplied European consumers with Indian wares, and it
was in them alone that the necessary security of property
existed to preserve large stores of merchandise. Constanti-
nople was as much superior to every city in the civilized
world, in wealth and commerce, as London now is to the
other European capitals. And it must also be borne in
mind, that the countries of Central Asia were not then in
the rude and barbarous condition into which they have
now sunk, since nomade nations have subdued them. On
many parts of the road traversed by the caravans, the
merchants found a numerous and wealthy population ready
to traffic in many articles sought after both in the East and
West ; and the single commodity of furs supplied the traders
with the means of adding greatly to their profits.
Several circumstances contributed to transfer trade from the
dominions of the caliphs to Constantinople. The Mohamme-
dan law, which prohibited all loans at interest, and the
arbitrary nature of the administration of justice, rendered
all property, and particularly commercial property, insecure ^
Again, the commercial route by the way of Egypt and the
Red Sea was suddenly rendered both difficult and expensive,
about the year 767, by the Caliph Al Mansur, who closed
the canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. The
harvests of Egypt, which had previously filled the coast of
Arabia with plenty, could no longer be transported in
quantity to the ports of the Red Sea; living became ex-
pensive ; the population of Arabia declined ; and the carrying
trade was ruined by the additional expenditure required
The caliph by this measure impoverished and depopulated
the rebellious cities of Medina and Mecca to such a d^^ree
as to render their military and political power less dangerous
* The picture presented by the Oriental historians of the oppressive rule of the
caliphs shows how little security existed under the roost powerful of the Abassides.
Price has the following passage in the history of Al Mansur, and his testimony is
confirmed by the recent excellent work of Weil, Gesckiekie der Chtdiftn: 'But
the sufferings of the inhabitants of Bagdad had reached that point beyond which
there was no further endurance. A licentious banditti had reestablished its sway
in that unhappy dty ; the women, the slaves, the property of the inhabitants <if
every rank and description, had once more become the prey of robbers and
outlaws, who regarded neither the authority of Mansur nor of any other person.'
History of th$ Mokammndan Emptrt, ii. 133.
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AJ). 716-867.]
to the central authority at Bagdad, but at the same time
he ruined the commerce of Egypt with India and the eastern
coast of Southern Africa. Since that period, this most
important line of communication has never been restored,
and the coarser articles of food, of which Egypt can produce
inexhaustible stores, are deprived of their natural market in
the arid r^ons of Arabia \ The hostile relations between
the caliphs of Bagdad and Spain likewise induced a consider-
able portion of the Mohammedan popolation on the shores of
the Medite*rranean to maintain close commercial re{atioixs.with
Constantinople ^
A remarkable proof of the great wealth of society at this
period is to be found in the immense amount of specie in
circulation. We have already noticed that the Byzantine
empire furnished all the western nations of Europe with gold
coin for several centuries ; and when the hoards of the
Mohammedan conquerors of India fell a prey to European
invaders, it was found that the gold coins of the Byzantine
emperors formed no small part of their treasures. The sums
accumulated by Al Mansur and Theophilus were so great,
that no extortion could have collected them unless the people
had been wealthy and great activity had existed in the
commercial transactions of the age. It is true that the
Caliph Al Mansur was remarkable for his extreme parsimony
during twelve years of his reign* During this period he is
said to have accumulated a treasure amounting to six hundred
millions of dirhems in silver (about ;^ 13, 750,000), and fourteen
millions of dinars of gold (;^6,4 17,000), or at the rate of
■;f 1,680,000 a-year^. The Emperor Theophilus, whose lavish
expenditure in various ways has been recorded, left a large
' The last mention of this canal by a European author is in Dicuil, who had
heard a monk named Fidelis relate that he navigated on a branch of the Nile
from Babylon (old Cairo) to the Red Sea. Dicuili Liher de Mtnsura Orhis Ttrrae^
vi. 3. 6, Richerehes Giograph. et Critiquet, par Letronne, 23.
' Cardonne, Histoirt die VAfrique it <U VEspagnt sous la Domination des ArabeSj
1.340-
• The name of Abou Dowaneck (the Father of a Farthing) was given to Al
Mansur on account of his avarice. Almamun is said to have expended 300,000
dinars in translating the works of the Greeks (137.500/.). Price, ii. 14a. Weil
(it 88, notg 2) says that, according to Cod. Goth. (f. ai), Al Mansur left 900,000,000
dinars and 60,000,000 dirhems; and also that the treasure left by Haroun Al
Rashid amounted to 900,000,000 dinars, and twice as many dirhems; ii. 127,
not4 3. It is needless to say that cither there must here be a fault of the copyist
or gross exaggeration.
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[Bk.I.Ch.IV.§i.
sum in the imperial treasury at his death, which, when
increased by the prudent economy of the regency of Theo-
dora, amounted to one thousand and ninety nine centenaries
of gold, three thousand centenaries of silver, besides plate and
gold embroidery, that, on being melted down, yielded two
hundred centenaries of gold. The gold may be estimated as
equal to about four millions and a half of sovereigns, and the
weight of silver as equal to ;£'930,ooo in value, the remainder
of the treasure to 800,000 sovereigns, making the whole equal
to a metallic coinage of 5,230,000 sovereigns, and of course
far exceeding that sum in its exchangeable value, from the
comparative scarcity of the precious metals and the more
circumscribed circulation of money. There does not appear
to be any exaggeration in this account of the sums left in the
Byzantine treasury at the termination of the r^ency of
Theodora, for the historians who have transmitted it wrote
under the government of the Basilian dynasty, and under
circumstances which afforded access to official sources of
information. The Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus,
their patron, who lived in the third generation after Theo-
dora, would not have authorized any misrepresentation on such
a subject ^
Some further confirmation of the general wealth of the
countries on the shores of the Mediterranean, in which com-
merce was allowed some degree of liberty, is found in the
wealth of Abderrahman III., in Spain, who is said to have
possessed an annual revenue of 5,480,000 dinars, though some
historians have calculated the whole income of his treasury at
12,945,000, which would be equal to ;^5,5oo,ooo sterling ^
The poverty of Europe at a later period, when the isolation
caused by the feudal system had annihilated commerce and
prevented the circulation of the precious metals, cannot be
used as an argument against the probability of this wealth
having existed at the earlier period of which we are treating'.
In contrasting the state of commercial society in the Byzan-
tine and Saracen empires, we must not overlook the existence
* Contin. 107 ; Symeon Mag. 436.
• Murphy's Mokamrrudan Empire in Spain, ^03.
' After the conquests of Henry V. in France, the revenues of the crown of
England in 1431 amounted only to 53,000/. sterling annually. Michelet, Hiu. d»
France, iii. 658, edit. Brux.
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A.D. 716-867.]
of one social feature favourable to the Mohammedans. The
higher classes of the Byzantine empire, imbued with the old
Roman prejudices, looked on trade of every kind as a debasing
pursuit, unsuitable to those who were called by birth or posi-
tion to serve the state, while the Saracens still paid an outward
respect to the antique maxims of Arabian wisdom, which
inculcated industry as a source of independence even to men
of the highest rank. In deference to this injunction, the
Abassid caliphs were in the habit of learning some trade, and
selling the produce of their manual labour, to be employed in
purchasing the food they consumed ^
Perhaps we may also hazard the conjecture, that a con-
siderable addition had, shortly before the reign of Theophilus,
been made to the quantity of precious metals in existence by
the discovery of new mines. We know, indeed, that the
Saracens in Spain worked mines of gold and silver to a con-
siderable extent, and we may therefore infer that they did the
same in many other portions of their vast dominions. At the
same time, whatever was done with profit by the Saracens was
sure to be attempted by the Christians under the Byzantine
government. The abundance of Byzantine gold coins still in
existence leads to the conclusion that gold was obtained in
considerable quantities from mines within the circuit of the
Eastern Empire.
Sect. IL — State of Society among the People of the Byzantine
Empire in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries.
Decline of civilization. — Influence of the Greek church. — Slavery. — Theologic
spirit of the people. — State of science and art. — Literature.
The wealth of nations depends in a great degree on their
commerce, but the health and strength of a people is derived
from its agricultural industry. Commerce is cosmopolitan,
agriculture is national. The population which is pressed into
large cities by commercial pursuits, or crowded into little
space by manufacturing industry— even the wanderers with
* In ancient times a Roman citizen who became an artisan was expelled from
his tribe OiJcvi ^ 4^^v 'YvnuJuav o&rt Kdinj\0¥ dJrf x^^P^^XJf^^^ ^^^^ ^X*^*
Dionys. Halicar. ix. 25.
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[Bk.I.Ch.IV.Sa.
the caravan and the navigators of ships — rarely perpetuate
their own numbers. All these hunters after riches require
to be constantly recruited from the agricultural population
of their respective countries. This constant change, which
is going on in the population of cities, operates powerfully in
altering the condition of society in each successive generation.
Hence we find the nature of society in Constantinople strongly
opposed to the principles of the Byzantine government. The
imperial government, as has been already mentioned, inherited
the conservative principles of Roman society, and, had it been
possible, would have fettered the population to its actual
condition and reduced the people to castes. The laws of
Providence opposed the laws of Rome, and society dwindled
away. The ruling classes in the Western Empire had expired
before their place was occupied by the conquering nations of
the north. In the Eastern Empire the change went on more
gradually; the towns and cities were far more numerous, but
many of them embraced within their own walls an agricultural
population, which not only recruited the population engaged
in trade, but also sent off continual colonies to maintain the
great cities of the empire, and especially Constantinople.
This great capital, recruited from distant towns, and from
nations dissimilar in manners and language, was consequently
always undergoing great changes, yet always preserving its
peculiar type of a city destitute of any decided nationality,
and of homogeneity in its society. It became in turn a
Roman, an Asiatic, and a Greek city, as the Roman, the
Asiatic, or the Greek aristocracy acquired the predominant
influence in the administration. Under the Iconoclasts, it
was decidedly more an Asiatic city than either a Greek or
a Roman. Whether the Asiatics, the Greeks, or the Scla-
vonians formed the greater number of the inhabitants, cannot
be ascertained. The aristocracy was certainly Asiatic, the
middle classes and artisans were chiefly Greeks, but the lowest
rabble, the day labourers, the porters, and the domestic ser-
vants, when not slaves, appear to have consisted principally of
the Sclavonians of Thrace and Macedonia, who, like the
Emperor Basil the Macedonian, entered the city with a wallet
on their shoulder to seek their fortune. A similar condition
of society exists to-day, and thousands of labourers may be
seen weekly arriving at Constantinople in the steamers from
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the Asiatic coast of the Black Sea, and from the coasts between
Smyrna, Thessalonica, and the capital.
The decline of society throughout the Roman world has
been already noticed, and the nature of the improvement
which took place in the Eastern Empire during the reigns
of Leo III. and his successors has been pointed out. It is
now necessary to examine why the improvement of society
so soon assumed a stationary aspect. We must not forget
that the empire was still Roman in its name, traditions, and
prejudices. The trammels, binding the actions and even the
thoughts of the various classes, were very slightly relaxed, and
the permanent relaxation had been made in the interest of the
government, not of the people. Men of every rank were
confined within a restricted circle, and compelled to act in
their individual spheres in one unvarying manner. Within
the imperial palace the incessant ceremonial was regarded as
the highest branch of human knowledge. It was multiplied
into a code, and treated as a science. In the church, tra-
dition, not gospel, was the guide, and the innumerable forms
and ceremonies and liturgies were hostile to the exercise of
thought and the use of reason. Among the people at large,
though the curial system of castes had been broken down,
still the trader was fettered to his corporation, and often to
his quarter or his street, where he exercised his calling
amidst men of the same profession. The education of the
child, and the tendencies of society, both prevented the indi-
vidual from acquiring more than the confined knowledge
requisite for his position in the empire. No learning, no
talent, and no virtue could conduct either to distinction or
wealth, unless exercised according to the fixed formulas that
governed the state and the church. Hence even the mer-
chant, who travelled over all Asia, and who supported the
system by the immense duties he furnished to government,
supplied no new ideas to society, and perhaps passed through
life without acquiring many.
This peculiar constitution of society explains the origin
of some vices in the character of the Greeks of later times,
which are erroneously supposed to be an inheritance of the
days of liberty. The envy and jealousy produced by party
contests in small republics were certainly very great, and, we
may add, quite natural, for both passions and interests were
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[Bk.I.Ch.IV.51,
sharpened by hourly personal collision, and their political
institutions rendered law imperfect. The envy and jealousy
of later times were baser feelings, and had their origin in
meaner interests. Roman society crowded men of the same
professions together, and in some measure excluded them
from much intercourse with others. The consequence was,
that a violent struggle for wealth, and often for the means
of existence, was created amoiigst those living in permanent
personal contact. Every man was deeply interested in ren-
dering his nearest neighbour in some degree his inferior,
for individual advancement being almost impossible in the
stationary condition of Roman society, the only method of
obtaining any superiority was by the depreciation of the moral
or professional character of rivals who were always near neigh-
bours. Envy and calumny were the feelings of the mind
which Roman society under the emperors tended to develop
in every rank. The same cause produces the same effect in
the Greek bazaar of every Turkish town of the present day,
where tradesmen of the same profession are crowded into the
same street. When it is impossible to depreciate the merit of
the material and the workmanship, it is easy to calumniate
the moral character of the workman.
The influence of the Greek church on the political fabric of
the empire failed to infuse a sound moral spirit into either the
administration or the people, Still it may be possible to
trace some of the secondary causes which prepared the way
for the reforms of Leo IH. to the sense of justice, moral
respect, and real religious faith, infused into the mass of the
population by a comparison of the doctrines of Christianity
with those of Mohammedanism. But the blindness of the
age has concealed from our view many of the causes which
impelled society ta co-operate with the Iconoclast emperors in
their career of improvement and reorganization. That the
moral condition of the people of the Byzantine empire under
the Iconoclast emperors was superior to that of any equal
number of the human race in any preceding period, can handly
be doubted. The bulk of society occupied a higher social
position in the time of Constantine Copronymus than of
Pericles ; the masses had gained more by the decrease of
slavery and the extension of free labour than the privil^ed
citizens had lost. Public opinion, though occupied on meaner
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objects, had a more extended basis, and embraced a larger
class. Perhaps, too, the war of opinions concerning ecclesias-
tical forms or subtleties tended to develop pure morality as
much as the ambitious party-struggles of the Pnyx. When
the merits and defects of each age are fairly weighed, both will
be found to offer lessons of experience which the student of
political history ought not to neglect.
There may be some difference of opinion concerning the
respective merits of Hellenic, Roman, and Byzantine society,
but there can be none concerning the superiority of Byzantine
over that which existed in the contemporary empires of the
Saracens and the Franks. There we find all moral restraints
weakened, and privil^ed classes or conquering nations ruling
an immense subject population, with very little reference to
law, morality, or religion. Violence and injustice claimed at
Bagdad an unbounded license, until the Turkish mercenaries
extinguished the caliphate, and it was the Norman invaders
who reformed the social condition of the Franks. Mohamme-
danism legalized polygamy with all its evils in the East. In
the West, licentiousness was unbounded, in defiance of the
precepts of Christianity. Charles Martel, Pepin, and Charle-
magne are said to have had two wives at a time, and a
numerous household of concubines. But on turning to the
Byzantine empire, we find that the Emperor Constantine VI.
prepared the way for his own ruin by divorcing his first wife
2tnd marrying a second, in what was considered an illegal
manner. The laws of the Franks attest the frequency of
female drunkenness; and the whole l^islation of Western
Europe, during the seventh and eighth centuries, indicates
great immorality, and a degree of social anarchy, which
explains more clearly than the political events recorded in
l^ory, the real cause of the fall of one government after
another^. The superior moral tone of society in the Byzan-
tme empire was one of the great causes of its long duration ;
it was its true conservative principle.
The authority exercised by the senate, the powers possessed
by synods and general councils of the church, and the
importance often attached by the emperors to the ratification
Capefigue, Chariemagrut i. 54, 185.
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[Bk.I.Ch.IV. Sa.
of their laws by silentia and popular assemblies, mark a
change in the Byzantine empire in strong contrast with the
earlier military empire of the Romans. The highest power in
the state had been transferred from the army to the laws of
the empire — no inconsiderable step in the progress of political
civilization. The influence of those feelings of humanity
which resulted from this change is visible in the mild
treatment of many unsuccessful usurpers and dethroned
emperors. During the reign of Nicephorus I., the sons of
Constantine V., Bardanes, and Arsaber, were all living in
monasteries, though they" had all attempted to occupy the
throne. Constantine VI. and Michael I. lived unmolested by
their successors.
The marked feature of ancient society was the division
of mankind into two great classes — freemen and slaves.
The proportion between these classes was liable to con-
tinual variation, and every considerable variation produced
a corresponding alteration in the laws of society, which we
are generally unable to follow. The progress of the mass
of the population was, however, constantly retarded until
the extinction of slavery. But towards that boon to mankind,
great progress was made in the Byzantine empire during the
eighth and ninth centuries. The causes that directly tended
to render free labour more profitable than it had been
hitherto, when applied to the cultivation of the soil, and
which consequently operated more immediately in extin-
guishing predial slavery, and repressing the most extensive
branch of the slave-trade, by supplying the cities with free
emigrants, cannot be indicated with precision. It has
been very generally asserted that we ought to attribute the
change to the influence of the Christian religion. If this
be really true, cavillers might observe that so powerful
a cause never in any other case produced its effects so
tardily. Unfortunately, however, though ecclesiastical in-
fluence has exercised immense authority over the internal
policy of European society, religious influence has always
been comparatively small ; and though Christianity has
laboured to abolish slavery, it was often for the interest
of the church to perpetuate the institution. Slavery had, in
fact, ceased to exist in most European countries, while many
Christians still upheld its legality, and maintained that its
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existence was not at variance with the doctrines of their
religion ^.
The precise condition of slaves in the Byzantine empire at
this period must be learned from a careful study of the
imperial l^slation of Rome, compared with later documents.
As a proof of the improved philanthropy of enlightened men
during the Iconoclast period, the testament of Theodore
Studita deserves to be quoted. That bold and independent
abbot says, * A monk ought not to possess a slave, neither for
his own service, nor for the service of his monastery, nor for
the culture of its lands ; for a slave is a man made after the
image of God ; ' but he derogates in some degree from his
own merits, though he gives a correct picture of the feelings of
his time, by adding, ^ and this, like marriage, is only allowable
in those living a secular life 2.*
The foundation of numerous hospitals and other charitable
institutions, both by emperors and private individuals, is also
a proof that feelings of philanthropy as well as religion had
penetrated deeply into men's minds.
The theologic spirit which pervaded Byzantine society is to
be attributed as much to material causes as to the intellectual
condition of the Greek nation. Indeed, the Greeks had at
times only a secondary share in the ecclesiastical controversies
in the Eastern church, though the circumstance of those
controversies having been carried on in the Greek language
has made the nations of western Europe attribute them to a
philosophic, speculative, and polemic spirit inherent in the
Hellenic mind. A very slight examination of history is
sufficient to prove, that several of the heresies which disturbed
the Eastern church had their origin in the more profound
religious ideas of the Oriental nations, and that many of
the opinions called heretical were, in a great measure, expres-
sions of the mental nationality of the Syrians, Armenians,
* For the extent to which the slave-trade was carried on by the Latin Chris-
tians, see Marin, Storia civil* * poiitiea dd Commercio de* Veneziani^ ii. 5a.
• S. Theodori Stnditae EpiUolat aliaqut Scripta Dogmatica, in the fifth volume
of Sirmondi, Opera Varia, p. C6. On the subject of Roman and Byzantine slavery,
see Blair, An Inquiry into tk* SUU$ of Slavery amongst the Romans; Biot. De PAboli'
tkm de VEulavage ancien en Occident; Babington, T%e Influence of Christianity in
Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in Europe; and Wallon, Histoire de VEsclavage
done rAntiquitS. This last work is a valuable addition to our knowledge of society
under the Roman emperors.
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aaa iconoclast period.
[Bk.I.Ch.IV.Ja,
Egyptians, and Persians, and had no connection whatever
with the Greek mind.
Even the contest with the Iconoclasts was a dispute in
which the ancient Oriental opinions concerning the operations
of mind and matter were as much concerned, as the Greek
contest between the necessity of artificial symbols of faith
on the one hand, and the duty of developing the mtellectual
faculties by cultivating truth through the reason, not the
imagination, on the other. The ablest writer on the Greek
side of the question, John Damascenus, was a Syrian, and not
a Greek. The political struggle to establish the centralization
of ecclesiastical and political power was likewise quite as
important an element in the contest as the religious question;
and as soon as it appeared firmly established, the emperors
became inclined to yield to popular prejudices. The victory
of the image-worshippers tended to exalt a party in the
Eastern church devoted to ecclesiastical tradition, but little
inclined to cultivate Hellenic literature or cherish Hellenic
ideas, which it considered hostile to the l^endary lore
contained in the lives of the saints. After the victory of this
party, accordingly, we find a more circumscribed circle of
intellectual culture began to prevail in the Byzantine emfrire.
John the Grammarian, Leo the Mathematician, and Photius,
who acquired his vast literary attainments as a layman, were
the last profound and enlightened Byzantine scholars : they
left no successors, nor has any Greek of the same intellectual
calibre since appeared in the world.
A greater similarity of thought and action may be traced
throughout the Christian world in the eighth century than in
subsequent ages. The same predominance of religious feeling
and ecclesiastical ceremonials ; the same passion for founding
monasteries and raising discussions; the same disposition to
make life subservient to religion, to make all amusements
ecclesiastical, and to embody the enjoyment of music, painting,
and poetry in the ceremonies of the church ; the same abuse
of the right of asylum to criminals by the ecclesiastical
authorities, and the same antagonism between the church and
the state, is visible in the East and the West *.
* The influence of the monks during the Iconoclast contest became so great
that the monasteries on Olympus, Athos, and Ida formed themselves into small
republics, and almost aspired at living independent of the civil power. GenesinSi
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The orthodox church was originally Greek; the seven
general councils whose canons had fixed its doctrines were
Greek ; and the popes, when they rose into importance, could
only adopt a scheme of theology already framed. The
religious or theological portion of Popery, as a section of the
Christian church, is really Greek ; and it is only the ecclesias-
tical, political, and theocratic peculiarities of the fabric which
can be considered as the work of the Latin church. The
general unity of Christians was, however, prominent in good
as well as evil ; the missionary labours of Boniface among the
Germans, at the commencement of the eighth century, reflect
glory on the Latin church, and the conversion of the Bulgar-
ians in the middle of the ninth, by the ministry of Methodios
and Kyrillos, is honourable to the Byzantine. These two
monks, natives of Thessalonica, where they lived surrounded
by a fierce tribe of Sclavonians, devoted themselves to study
the language of these troublesome neighbours. Under the
regency of the Empress Theodora, they rendered their know-
ledge of the Sclavonian dialect the means of propagating
Christianity and advancing the cause of civilization, by
visiting Bulgaria in the character of missionaries. They are
universally allowed to have conducted their mission in a
Christian spirit, and to have merited the great success that
attended their labours ^
The improvement which took place in the administration of
justice, and the legal reforms effected by Leo IH. and
39. [Genestos only says, ' These* havens of orthodoxy, guarded by the power of
Christ, from that time to the present remain undisturb^.* £1d.] The Emperor
Theof^Ius, a man by no means under the direct influence of the clergy, formed
a new asylum for criminals at the silver tomb of his beloved daughter Maria.
Leo Gramm. 451.
* Mosheim, Ecclnicutical Hhiory, ii. 169; Neander, History of the Christian ReU-
giom and Church, iiL 307. [It is strange that the author should have dismissed
the apostles of the Slavonians with this passing notice, just as he has ignored
Ulphuas, the Arian apostle of the Goths, in the first volume. Yet these two
missions, together with the invention of the Gothic and Cyrillic alphabets, are
among the most important influences exercised by the Eastern Empire. The
story of Cyril and Methodius is one of the most romantic and the most in-
structiTe in B3rzantine history, combining as it does the East and the West,
civilized states and barbarians, history and legend. In addition to the older
tuthurities mentioned in the notes to Mosheim, the reader is referred especially
to the important works of Dobrowsky — Cyrill und Mtfhodius (Prag 1823). and
Mdkrisehs LetfituU (Prag i8a6)— in the Ahhandlungtn of the Bohemian OeseUiehafi
dmr Wissensekafttn^ vols. viii. and i. {neut folgi) respectively. Later contributiojis
to the subject are Diimmler, Dit pannomsehe L^endt vom heil. Methodius ; Ddmmler
and Miklosich, Die LegetuU von dem heil. C^lus ; and Louis Leger, ttude sur
Cyrille et Mithode $t la Conversion des Slaves an Ckristianisme, £d.]
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[Bk.I.Ch.IV.5 3.
Constantine V., have been already noticed. Leo V. and
Theophilus also gained great praise, even from their adver-
saries, for the strict control they established over the forms
of proceeding and the decisions of the courts of law. The
legal monuments of this period, however, by no means
correspond with the extent of the administrative improvement
which took place. The era of legislative greatness in the
Byzantine empire was under the Basilian dynasty, but it was
under the Iconoclast emperors that new vigour was infused
into the system, and the improvements were made which laid
the foundation of the stability, wealth, and power of the
Byzantine empire.
The scientific attainments of the educated class in the
Byzantine empire were unquestionably very considerable.
Many learned men were invited to the court of the Caliph
Almamun, and contributed far more than his own subjects to
the reputation that sovereign has deservedly gained in the
history of science. The accurate measurement of the earth's
orbit in his time shows that astronomical and mathematical
knowledge had at no previous period attained a greater
height ; and if the Byzantine authorities are to be credited,
Leo the Mathematician, who was afterwards archbishop of
Thessalonica, was invited to the court of the caliph, because
he was universally recognized to be superior to all the
scientific men at Bagdad in mathematical and mechanical
knowledge^. A proof that learning was still cultivated in
the distant provinces of the Byzantine empire, and that
schools of some eminence existed in'Greece, is to be found in
the fact that Leo, when a layman, retired to a college in the
island of Andros to pursue his studies, and there laid the
foundation of the scientific knowledge by which he acquired
his reputation. After he was compelled, on account of his
opposition to image-worship, to resign the archbishopric of
* Almamun's astronomers calculated the length of the year at 365 days 5 hours
46 mmutes and .^o seconds. The true length is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and
48 seconds. Niebuhr has pointed out the exactitude attained by the Etruscans
in fixing the length of the solar year. B'tU, of Rome, i. 374. The Mexican
calendar in use before the discovery of America was the most perfect before
the Gregorian. Humboldt* Vues des Cordilleras #/ Monumens des PeupUs Jndigina
de rAmirique^ 125. For the obligations of the Arabs to the Byzantines from the
time of Mansur, see Weil, ii. 81, 84, 93. Greek physicians and Greek cooks are
mentioned in the Arabian Nights. The Caliph Mansur was attended by Greek
and Indian physicians.
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Thessalonica, the general respect felt for his learning obtained
for him from Bardas Caesar the appointment of president of
the new university, founded at Constantinople in the reign of
Michael III., in which chairs of geometry and astronomy had
been established, as well as the usual instruction in Greek
literature *.
It was under the direction of Leo that several of those
remarkable works of jewellery, combined with wonderful
mechanical contrivances, were executed for the Emperor
Theophilus, which have been already mentioned ^ The
perfection of the telegraph by fire-signals, from the frontiers of
the empire to the shores of the Bosphorus, and the machinery
by which the signals were communicated to a dial placed in
the imperial council-chamber, were also the work of Leo^.
The fame which still attended distinguished artists and
mechanicians at Constantinople shows us that the love of
knowledge and art was not entirely extinct ; and the relics of
Byzantine jewellery, often found buried in the most distant
regions of Europe, prove that a considerable trade was carried
on in these works.
Even the art of statuary was not entirely neglected, for it
has been noticed already that Constantine VI. erected a
statue of bronze in honour of his mother Irene ^. Painting,
however, was more universally admired, and mosaics were
easily adapted to private dwellings. There were many dis-
tinguished painters in the Byzantine empire at this time, and
there is reason to think that some of their productions were
wonderful displays of artistic skill, without giving credit to
the miraculous powers of the works of Lazaros. The mis-
sionary Methodios awakened the terror of the King of the
Bulgarians by a vivid representation of the tortures of the
damned, in a painting combining the natural portraiture of
frightful realities mixed with horrors supplied from a fertile
' The history of Leo is given at length by the Continuator, 115. He was
called the great philosopher, and it is said that Almamun wrote to Theophilus
requesting him to send Leo to the court of Bagdad. Leo studied gramnoar and
poetry at Constantinople ; rhetoric, philosophy, and the pure sciences at Andros.
In the year 869 he was present in the Cnurch of the Virgin, called Sigma C.
when it fell in consequence of the shock of an earthquake, and all the con-
gregation, with the exception of Leo and a few others, perished. Symeon
Mag. 454.
* Seep. 151.
* Contin. laa; S3rmeon Mag. 450; Const. Manasses, 107.
* Codinus, De Ong. Constant, 6a.
VOL. IL Q C"i^n,n]i>
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226 ICONOCLAST PERIOD.
[Bk.I.Ch.IV.$j.
imagination. The sombre character of Byzantine art was
well adapted to the subject, and the fame Methodios
acquired among his contemporaries, as well as from those in
after times who saw his paintings, may be accepted as a proof
that they possessed some touches of nature and truth. It
would be unfair to decide peremptorily on the effect of larger
works of art from the illuminated Byzantine manuscripts which
still exist. Art is subject to strange vicissitudes in very
short periods, as may be seen by any one who compares a
guinea of the reign of George III. with a coin of Cromwell or
even Queen Anne, or who turns his eye from Whitehall to the
National Gallery \
The literature of the ancient world was never entirely
neglected at Constantinople, so that the intellectual culture
of each successive period must always be viewed in connection
with the ages immediately preceding. The literary history of
Constantinople consequently opens a field of inquiry too wide
to be entered on in the limited space assigned to this political
history. The works of the classic writers of Hellas, of the
legists of Rome, and of the fathers of Christian theology,
all exercised a direct influence on Byzantine literature at
every period of its existence, until Constantinople was con-
quered by the Turks. It has been too much the practice of
the literary historians of Europe to underrate the positive
knowledge of ancient literature possessed by the learned in
the East during the eighth and ninth centuries. What has
been often called the dawn of civilization, even in the West,
was nothing more than an acquaintance with the bad models
transmitted from the last ages of ancient literature. It is as
great an error as to suppose that the English of the present
day are ignorant of sculpture, because they are occupied in
adorning the new Houses of Parliament with deformed
statues; and of architecture, because they have built a
gallery for their pictures ill suited to the desired object*.
* The MSS. of the works of St. Gregory of Nazianzus in the National Libnuy
at Paris, and of the Menologium of Basil in the Library of the Vatican, with
their rich decorations and miniatures, belong to the ninth century. The copy
of the Menologium was prepared for the Emperor Basil I.
' M. Guizot, from not paying sufficient attention to this fact, has mistaken the
sophistry of the second century for the rays of a supposed dawn of civilization
in the eighth. In his excellent Histoirt de la Civilisation en France (ii. 183), he
gives specimens of a disputaiio between Alcuin and Pepin, the son of Charlcnwgnc,
which he considers as an example of the eager curiosity with which the human
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SCIENCE AND LITERATURE. 227
A.D. 716-867]
The most eminent Byzantine writers of this period were
George Syncellus, Theophanes, the Patriarch Nicephoros, and
perhaps John Malalas, in history; John Damascenus (who
perhaps may be considered as a Syrian) and Theodore
Studita, in theology ; and Photius, in general literature.
During the middle ages the Greek scientific writers became
generally known in western Europe by means of translations
from Arabic versions, and this circumstance has induced
many to draw the conclusion that these wqrks were better
known and more popular among the Arabs at Cordova, Cairo,
and Bagdad, than among the Greeks at Constantinople. The
Almagest of Ptolemy affords an example of this double
translation and erroneous inference.
mind, while young and ignorant, views every unexpected combination of ideas.
Unfortunately the work he thus characterizes is a verbal translation from Secundus,
an Athenian sophist of the time of Hadrian, or a transcript of part of an altercatio
attributed to Hadrian and Epictetus. See Orellius, Opuscula Graeeorum V$terum
Sententiosa et Maralia, i. ai8»
Qa
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BOOK SECOND.
Basilian Dynasty— Period of the Power and Glory
OF THE Byzantine Empire. a.d. 867-1057.
CHAPTER I.
Consolidation of Byzantine Legislation and
Despotism. a.d. 867-963.
Sect. I. — Reign of Basil L (the Macedonian), a.d. 867-886.
Personal history of Basil.— Ecclesiastical administration. — Financial l^slation.
— Military administration. — Paulician war. — Campaigns in Asia Minor.—
Saracens ravage Sicily and Italy. — Coiut and character of Basil I.
The history of Basil I. has been transmitted to us by
writers who compiled their works under the eye of his grand-
son, the Emperor Constantine VII., and by that grandson with
his own pen. Under such auspices, history is more likely
to conceal much of the truth, than to record nothing but
the truth. One instance of falsification may be mentioned.
The imperial compilations would fain persuade us that the
Sclavonian groom was a man of noble descent ^ and that he
' The Armenian historians claim Basil as a countryman, but it seems they only
echo the genealogy invented at Constantinople to flatter the emperor. Chamicli,
History cf Armenia^ ii. 8; Le Beau, xiii. i8o, 184, 479; Gibbon, vi. 95. Hamsa
of Ispahan says he was of Sclavonian race. Reiske, ComnurUarii ad Omsttmt.
Porphyr. de Caeremoniis Aulas Byz. ii. 451, edit. Bonn. There is a confinnatioa
of this in the expression icar^ ir6fyi{ay, in Genesius, 53; according to Kopitar,
GlafTolita, Ixxi. See Constant. Porphyr. Basilius, 138; and Ephraemius, iii.
[M. Rambaud, in his exhaustive work L Empire grec au dixieme Steele (pp. 147, 148),
comes to the conclusion that there is more evidence for the Armenian, than for the
Slavonic origin of Basil. He points out (i) that numerous Armenian colonies had
been established in Thrace, a fact which is attested (p. '219) by many inscriptions
discovered in that country by M. Albert Dumont; (2) that Basil had a brother
called Symbatios or Sempad, a name of Armenian derivation ; (3) that the Arme-
nian historians even mention the place in Armenia from which Basil's family
originally came. The second of these points has certainly considerable weight.
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PERSONAL HISTORY OF BASIL I. 1%^
could trace that descent either through a line of paternal or
maternal ancestors to Constantine, to the Arsacidae, and to
Alexander the Great, yet they allow that his father laboured
as a poor peasant in the neighbourhood of Adrianople, until
Basil himself, despising the cultivation of the paternal farm,
sought to improve his fortune by wandering to the capital.
We are told by other authorities that Basil was a Sclavonian,
and we know that the whole of Thrace and Macedonia was at
this period cultivated by Sclavonian colonists. His father's
family had been carried away captive into Bulgaria when
Crumn took Adrianople while Basil was still a child, A.D. 813.
During the reign of Theophilus, some Byzantine captives
succeeded in taking up arms and marching off into the
empire. Basil was among the number, and after serving the
governor of Macedonia for a time, he resolved to seek his
fortune in Constantinople ^ He departed, carrying all his
worldly wealth in a wallet on his shoulders, and reached the
capital on a summer's evening without knowing where to find
a night's rest. Fatigued with his journey, he sat down in the
portico of the church of St. Diomed, near the Adrianople
gate, and slept there all night. In a short time he obtained
employment as a groom in the service of a courtier named
Theophilitzes, where his talent of taming unruly horses, his
large head, tall figure, and great strength, rendered him remark-
able; while his activity, zeal, and intelligence secured him
particular notice from his master, and rapid promotion in his
household ^.
Theophilitzes was sent into the Peloponnesus on public
business by the Empress Theodora, while she was regent ;
and Basil, who accompanied his master, fell sick at Patrae
with the fever, still so prevalent in the Morea. Here he was
fortunate enough to acquire the protection of an old lady of
immense wealth, whose extraordinary liberality to the
unknown youth induces us to suppose that she was herself of
Sclavonian race ^. She made Basil a member of her family,
The royal extraction of Basil M. Rambaud regards as questionable. It might
rather be said to be in the highest degree improbable, as it was not likely that the
peasant ancestors of the Emperor should have preserved such a tradition, and there
would be a strong temptation to invent it subsequently. Ed.]
* Symeon Mag. 4^4.
' Constant. Porphyr. BasiV/Vs, 144.
» Nikctas, a Sclavonian of Peloponnesus, celebrated for his pride, was conneced
by marriage with Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the grandson of Basil.
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2^0 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch.I.51.
by uniting him with her own son John, in those spiritual ties
of fraternity which the Greek church sanctions by peculiar
rites ^; and she bestowed on him considerable wealth when
he was able to return to his master. It would appear that
Basil already occupied a position of some rank, for the widow
Danielis furnished him with a train of thirty slaves. The
riches Basil acquired by the generosity of his benefactress
were employed in purchasing an estate in Macedonia, and
in making liberal donations to his own relations. He still
continued in the service of Theophilitzes, but his skill in
wrestling and taming horses at last introduced him to the
Emperor Michael, who immediately became his patron. His
progress as boon-companion, friend, colleague, and murderer
of this benefactor has been already recounted.
The elevation of a man like Basil to the throne of Constan-
tinople was a strange accident ; but the fact that he reigned
for nineteen years seems still more singular, when we recollect
that he could neither boast of military service nor administra-
tive knowledge. Nothing can prove more completely the
perfection of the governmental machine at the time of his
accession, than the circumstance that a man without education
could so easily be moulded into a tolerable emperor. Person-
ally, he could have possessed no partisans either in the army
or the administration ; nor is it likely that he had many
among the people. We are tempted to conjecture that he was
allowed to establish himself on the throne because less was
known about him than about most of the other men of influ-
ence at court, and consequently less evil was laid to his charge,
and less personal opposition was created by his election. He
succeeded in maintaining his position by displaying unex-
pected talents for administration. Able and unprincipled, he
* [The process of forming fraternal friendships here referred to was called in medi-
aeval and ecclesiastical language dScXi^oiroifa or dScA^oiro^i/ffcs, and the expression in
this place for the relationship of Basil and the son of Danielis^is dScX^x^
irvcv^riiv^. The modem Greeks use the term <TvyahiX<po)<rit. According to this,
two young men engage to support and aid one another during their lives in all
contingencies. The Slavonic name for such persons is pobratim. The same
custom is found among the Albanians, even among those of the Mirdite tribe,
who are Roman Catholics. The relationship is regarded as of the most sacred
and inviolable character, and by some the children of those who have contracted
the alliance are not allowed to marry one another. M. Hecquard mentions {La
Haute Alhanie^ p. 388) a ceremony of initiation observed by some Albanians, in
which the two persons, after receiving the communion together, have a small
quantity of their blood mixed in a bowl of wine, which is drunk by both, when
tney have sworn an oath of fidelity. Ed.]
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DEPOSITION OF PHOTIUS, 231
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seems to have pursued a line of conduct which prevented the
factions of the court, the parties in the church, the feelings of
the army, and the prejudices of the people, from ever uniting
in opposition to his personal authority. His knowledge of the
sentiments of the people rendered him aware that financial
oppression was the most dangerous grievance both to the em-
peror and the empire ; he therefore carefully avoided increasing
the public burdens, and devoted his chief attention to the
establishment of order in every branch of the public service.
The depravity and impiety of Michael III. had disgusted
the people. Basil, in order to proclaim that his conduct was
to be guided by different sentiments, seized the opportunity
of his coronation in the Church of St. Sophia to make a public
display of his piety. After the ceremony was concluded, he
knelt down at the high altar and cried with a loud voice,
* Lord, thou hast given me the crown ; I deposit it at thy
feet, and dedicate myself to thy service.' The crimes and
intrigues of courts are often kept so long secret in despotic
governments, that it is possible few of those present who heard
this declaration were aware that a few hours only had elapsed
since the hypocritical devotee had buried his sword in the
bosom of his sovereign and benefactor.
For two years Basil made no change in the government of
the church. Photius, the actual Patriarch, was unpopular from
his connection with the family of the late emperor, and for
the toleration he had shown for the vices of the court, while
Ignatius, his deposed predecessor, possessed a powerful body
of partisans anwng the people and the monks. Basil attached
this numerous and active party to his interest by reinstating
Ignatius in the patriarchate ; but at the same time he con-
trived to avoid exciting any violent opposition on the part of
Photius, by keeping up constant personal communications
with that accomplished and able ecclesiastic. Photius was at
the head of a party possessed of no inconsiderable weight in
the church and the public administration. The aristocratic
classes, and the Asiatics generally, favoured his cause ; while
the people of Constantinople and the Greeks of Europe were
warm supporters of Ignatius.
The arbitrary authority of the emperor over the church is as
strongly displayed in the treatment of Photius by Basil, as in
the persecution of Ignatius by Bardas and Michael. Photius
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%%% BASTLIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch.L§f.
had occupied the patriarchal chair for ten years, and though
his election may have been irregular, his ecclesiastical autho-
rity was completely established ; and there appeared no
chance that anything would occur to disturb it, when Basil, to
gain a body of active political partisans, suddenly reinstated
Ignatius. It is said that Photius reproached the emperor with
the murder of his benefactor; but as he was allowed to re-
main in office for about two years, his deposition must be
ascribed entirely to political motives. The fact is, that Basil
wished to secure the support of the monks in the East, and of
the Pope of Rome in the West, yet feared to quarrel with the
party of Photius ^
The negotiations with the Pope occupied some time, but
when they were brought to a conclusion, a general council was
held at Constantinople, which is called by the Latins the
eighth general council of the church. Only one hundred and
two bishops could be assembled on this occasion, for the
greater part of the dignified clergy had been consecrated by
Photius, and many adhered to his party ^. Photius himself
was compelled to attend, but his calm and dignified attitude
deprived his enemies of the triumph they had expected. The
acts of the council of 86i, by which Ignatius had been de-
posed, were declared to be forgeries, and the consecration of
Photius as a priest was annulled. The accusation of forgery
was generally regarded as false, since it rested only on some
slight changes which had been made in the translation of the
Pope's letter to the emperor, and these changes had been
sanctioned by the papal legates who were present in the
council. The Latins, who expect the Greeks to tolerate them
in lengthening the Creed, have made a violent outcry against
the Greeks, on this occasion, for modifying the words of a
papal letter in a Greek translation. The compliancy of Basil,
the reintegration of Ignatius, and the subservient disposition
of the council of 869, induced the Pope to suppose that the
time had arrived when it would be possible to regain posses-
sion of the estates belonging to the patrimony of St. Peter in
the provinces of the Eastern Empire, which had been confis-
* Photius baptized Stephen, the son of Basil, on Christmas-day, 868. Symeon
Mag. 454: Georg. Mon. 544; Leo Giamm. 471.
* This council commenced on the 5th October 869, and teiminated on the lath
February 870. The entire acts are only preserved in the Latin translation of
Anastasius Bibliothecarius. A Greek abridgment exists.
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GENERAL COUNCIL. I'l'i
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cated by Leo III., and that the supremacy of the See of Rome
over the kingdom of Bulgaria might be firmly established.
He even hoped to gain the power of controlling the ecclesi-
astical affairs of the Eastern church. Such pretensions, how-
ever, only required to be plainly revealed to insure unanimous
opposition on the part of the emperor, the clergy, and the
people throughout the Byzantine empire. Ignatius and Basil
showed themselves as firm in resisting papal usurpation as
Photius and Michael.
In the mean time, Photius was banished to the monastery of
Skepes ; and we possess several of his letters, written during
the period of his disgrace, which give a more favourable view
of his character than would be formed from his public life
alone. They afford convincing proof of the falsity of some
of the chaises brought against him by his opponents. The
real fault of Photius was, that the statesman, and not the
Christian, was dominant in his conduct as Patriarch ; but this
has been a fault so general at Rome, at Constantinople, and
at Canterbury, that he would have incurred little censure in
the west had he not shown himself a devoted partisan of his
national church, and a successful enemy of papal ambition.
The majority of the Eastern bishops, in spite of his exile, re-
mained attached to his cause, and it was soon evident to Basil
that his restoration was the only means of restoring unity to
the Greek church. Accordingly, when Ignatius died in the
year 878, Photius was reinstated as Patriarch, and another
general council was assembled at Constantinople. This coun-
cil, which is called the eighth general council of the church by
the Eastern Christians, was attended by three hundred and
eighty-three bishops. The Emperor Basil, the Pope, and
Photius, all resolved to temporize, and each played his own
game of diplomacy and tergiversation, in the hope of ulti-
mately succeeding. The Pope proved the greatest loser, for
his legates were bribed — at least the Latins say so — to yield
up everything that Basil and Photius desired. They are even
accused of having allowed a covert attack on the orthodoxy
of Rome in lengthening the Creed by the addition of the
words *and the Son' to pass unchallenged^. The passion
* This council commenced in November 879, and terminated 13th March 880.
Its acts are to be found in the collections of Hardouin and Coleti.
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234 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk. II. Ch. I. % I.
displayed by the clergy of the Greek and Latin churches,
during the quarrels between Ignatius and Photius, makes it
difficult to ascertain the truth. It appears, however, that
Pope John VIII. would have restored the Nicene Creed to its
original form, by expunging the clause which had been added,
if he could have secured the concessions he required from the
Easter-n church and the Byzantine emperor to his political
pretensions. Certainly this is to be implied from the letter
addressed to Photius ; but papal writers have since defended
the consistency and infallibility of the popes, by asserting that
the copy of the letter annexed to the acts of the council is a
forgery. If either of the churches committed a tithe of the
iniquities with which they charge one another, we must allow
that Christianity exercised very little influence on the priestly
character during the ninth century.
When the Emperor Leo VI. succeeded his father Basil,
Photius was again banished, in order to make way for the
emperor's brother Stephen to occupy the patriarchal throne.
Photius was exiled to a monastery in the Armeniac theme,
A.D. 886, and he died in this retirement in the year 891,
leaving behind him the reputation of having been the most
accomplished and learned man of his time, and one of the last
enlightened scholars in the East. Even Leo treated him with
respect ; and in his letter to the Pope announcing his exile, he
spoke of it as a voluntary resignation, which may, perhaps, be
accounted a proof that it was the result of a political n^o-
tiation. As this distinguished man was one of the most
dangerous opponents of papal ambition prior to the time of
Luther, his conduct has been made the object of innumerable
misrepresentations; and the writers of the Romish church
even now can rarely discuss his conduct in moderate language
and with equitable feelings ^
One of the most interesting points of dispute to the heads
of the Eastern and Western churches was the supremacy over
the church of the Bulgarians. This was a momentous poli-
tical question to the Byzantine emperors, independent of its
ecclesiastical importance to the patriarchs of Constantinople,
for papal influence was sure to be employed in a manner
hostile to the Eastern Empire. Besides this, as the claim
* The work of AbW Jager {Histoirt de Photius) may be cited as a proof. It
is violent in its opinions, and inaccurate in its facts.
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FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION. 235
AJ). 867-886.]
of Rome to supremacy over Bulgaria rested on the ancient
subjection of the Danubian provinces to the archbishopric
of Thessalonica, in the times when that archbishopric was
immediately dependent on the Papal See, the establishment
of papal authority in Bulgaria would have afforded good
ground for commencing a struggle for withdrawing Thessa-
lonica itself from the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constan-
tinople, and placing it under the control of the Pope of Rome.
The conduct of the emperors of Constantinople in these
ecclesiastical negotiations was therefore the result of sound
policy, and it was marked with moderation and crowned with
success.
The financial administration of Basil was, on the whole,
honourable to his government. At his accession, he gave
out that he found only 300 lb. of gold, and a small quantity of
silver coin, in the imperial treasury^. This served as a pretext
for a partial resumption of some of the lavish grants of
Michael to worthless favourites, and in this way Basil col-
lected 30,000 lb. of gold without increasing the public burdens.
With this supply in hand for immediate wants, he was enabled
to take measures for effecting the economy necessary to make
the ordinary revenues meet the demands of the public service.
His personal experience of the real sufferings of the lower
orders, and the prudence imposed by his doubtful position,
prevented him, during the whole course of his reign, from
augmenting the taxes ; and the adoption of this policy insured
to his government the power and popularity which constituted
him the founder of the longest dynasty that ever occupied the
throne of Constantinople. Though his successors were, on the
whole, far inferior to his predecessors of the Iconoclast period
in ability, still their moderation, in conforming to the financial
system traced out by Basil, gave the Byzantine empire a
degree of power it had not previously possessed.
The government of the Eastern Empire was always sys-
tematic and generally cautious. Reforms were slowly effected ;
but when the necessity was admitted, great changes were
gradually completed. Generations, however, passed away
without men noticing how far they had quitted the customs
* Symeon Mag. (436) says thirteen centenaries of gold and nine sacks of
miliaresia, so that the ten may have been omitted by a copyist in the Life
of Basil by Constantine Porphyrogenitus (159).
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236 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch.I. §1,
of their fathers, and entered on new paths leading to very
different habits, thoughts, and institutions. The reign of no
one emperor, if we except that of Leo the Isaurian, embraces
a revolution in the institutions of the state, completed in a
single generation ; hence it is that Byzantine history loses the
interest to be derived from individual biogfraphy. It steps
over centuries, marking rather the movement of generations of
mankind than the acts of individual emperors and statesmen,
and it becomes a didactic essay on political progress instead
of a living picture of man's actions. In the days of the
liberty of Athens, the life of each leader embraces the history
of many revolutions, and the mind of a single individual seems
often to guide or modify their course; but in the years of
Constantinopolitan servitude, emperors and people are borne
slowly onward by a current of which we are not always
certain that we can trace the origin or follow the direction.
These observations receive their best development by a review
of the legislative acts of the Basilian dynasty. It was reserved
to Basil I. and his son Leo VI. to complete the reorganization
of the empire commenced by Leo III. ; for the promulgation
of a revised code of the laws of the empire, in the Greek lan-
guage, was the accomplishment of an idea impressed on the
Byzantine administration by the great Iconoclast reformer,
and of which his own Ecloga or manual was the first imperfect
expression.
The legal reforms of the early Iconoclast emperors enabled
the judges to supply the exigencies of the moment, in the
state of anarchy, ignorance, and disorder to which the pro-
vinces were reduced by the ravages of the Sclavonians,
Bulgarians, and Saracens. But when the vigorous adminis-
tration of the Isaurian dynasty had driven back these invaders,
and re-established order and security of property, the progress
of society called for a systematic reform in the legislation of
the empire. Enlarged views concerning the changes which it
was necessary to make in the compilations of Justinian were
gradually adopted. Nicephorus I. and Leo V. (the Armenian)
seem to have confined their attention to practical reforms in
the dispensation of justice, by improving the forms of pro-
cedure in the existing tribunals ; but when Bardas was charged
with the judicial department, during the reign of Michael III.,
the necessity of a thorough revision of the laws of the empire
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BYZANTINE LEGISLATION. 237
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was deeply felt. Bardas was probably ambitious of the glory
of effecting this reform as the surest step to the imperial
throne. The legal school at Constantinople, which he encou-
raged, prepared the materials for the great legislative work
that forms the marked feature in consolidating the power of
the Basilian dynasty^.
The l^islative views of Basil I., modelled in conformity to
the policy impressed on the Byzantine empire by Leo III.,
were directed to vest all legislative power in the hands of
the emperor, and to constitute the person of the sovereign
the centre of law as much as of financial authority and military
power 2. The senate continued to act as a legislative council
from time to time during the Iconoclast period, and the
emperors often invited it to discuss important laws, in order
to give extraordinary solemnity to their sanction. Such a
practice suggested the question whether the senate and the
people did not still possess a right to share in the legislation
of the empire, which opportunity might constitute into a per-
manent control over the imperial authority in this branch of
government. The absolute centralization of the legislative
authority in the person of the emperor was the only point
which prevented the government of the Byzantine empire
from being theoretically an absolute despotism, when Basil
I. ascended the throne, and he completed that centralization.
Though the senate consisted of persons selected by the sove-
reign, and though it acted generally as a subservient agent of
the executive power, still, as some of the most powerful men
in the empire were usually found among its members, its
position as a legislative council invested it with a degree of
political influence that might have checked the absolute power
of the emperor. Basil deprived it of all participation in legis-
lative functions, and restricted its duties solely to those of an
administrative council^. At the same time, the privileges
formerly possessed by the provincial proprietors, the remains
of the Roman curiae, or of the more recently formed muni-
cipalities that had grown up to replace them, were swept away
• Contin. no; Zonaras, ii. 161. Ka2 ro^t v6\iov% Z\ roitt iroMri«oirt dyijfiijaai
irtwciific€, ipotTQfy airbi c/t rd, Zucaarfipid^ ^817 kclL -njt roCroiy yv^ffiut ^axt^^i^
iKXtXomvkit wayrdwaaiv, *H filv olv irtpi tom kfucHntM leaX iiaBrmara rod BdpSa
vwovbil d(i4waivo9.
• Constant. Porphyr. Basilius, 161-163.
• Liotus Novellae^ Uxviii., in the Corpus Juris Chilis,
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238 BASIUAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.I.§i.
as oflFensive to despotic power \ But the total abolition of
municipal institutions by imperial edicti was certainly rather
theoretical than practical. The long series of progressive
alterations in society, which had destroyed the efficacy of the
older municipalities, had replaced them by new societies and
corporations having confined and local objects, too far beneath
the sphere of action of the central administration to excite
any jealousy on the part of those deputed to exercise the
imperial power. The bishops also lost their position of de-
fenders of the people, for as they were chosen by the sovereign,
the dignitaries of the Byzantine church were remarkable for
their servility to the civil power. So that both the senate and
the people lost all political influence in the Roman empire
about the same time, and under the Basilian dynasty the
government approached more nearly to a pure despotism than
at any earlier period.
The promulgation of the Basilika may be considered as
marking the complete union of all l^islative, executive,
judicial, financial, and administrative power in the person of
the emperor. The church was already reduced to complete
submission to the imperial authority. Basil, therefore, may
claim to be the emperor who established despotism as the
constitution of the Roman empire. The divine right of the
sovereign to rule as God might be pleased to enlighten his
understanding and soften his heart, was henceforth th« recog-
nised organic law of the Byzantine empire.
The compilation of the laws of Justinian is one of the
strangest examples of the manner in which sovereigns vitiate
the most extensive and liberal reforms by their conservative
prejudices. Justinian reconstructed the legislation of a Roman
empire, in order to adapt it to the wants of the people who
spoke Greek ; yet he restricted the benefit of his new code,
by promulgating it in Latin, though that language had ceased
to be in use among three quarters of his subjects. The
conservative principles of the imperial government and the
pride of the higher classes of Constantinople in their Roman
origin, induced the emperor to cling to the use of the Latin
language as marking their connection with past ages, and
drawing a line of separation between the government and the
^ Leonii Novellae, xlvi. zlvii. ; Contin. 76.
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BYZANTINE LEGISLATION. %y)
AJ). 867-586.]
mass of the people. Justinian himself pronounced the con-
demnation of his own conduct by publishing his latest laws in
Greek, and thus leaving his legislation dispersed in sources
promulgated in two different languages.
A Greek school of legists, founded long before the time of
Justinian, but which flourished during his reign, did much to
remedy this defect, by translating the Latin body of the law.
Greek translations of the Institutions, the Pandects, the Code,
and the Edicts, as well as Greek commentaries on these works,
soon replaced the original Latin texts, and became the autho-
rities that guided the courts of law throughout the Eastern
Empire. The decline of knowledge, and the anarchy that
prevailed during the century in which the empire was ruled
by the Heraclian dynasty, caused the translations of the larger
works to be neglected, and the writings of commentators, who
had published popular abridgments, to be generally consulted.
The evil of this state of things was felt so strongly when
Leo III. restored some degree of order throughout the empire,
that, as we have already mentioned, he promulgated an official
handbook of the law, called the Ecloga. From that time the
subject of l^islative reform occupied the attention of the
imperial government, as well as* of those professionally engaged
in the administration of justice ; and it appears certain that
Bardas had made considerable progress towards the execution
of those legislative reforms which were promulgated by Basil I.,
and completed by Leo VI. Indeed, it appears probable that
the project was conceived as early as the time of Theophilus,
whose personal knowledge of the law was greater than was
possessed by his successors who have gained a high place in
history as law reformers.
The precise share which the predecessors of Basil are
entitled to claim in the legislative labours of the Basilian
dynasty cannot be determined with exactitude, but that it is
not inconsiderable, is evident from the internal evidence
afforded by the works themselves. Certainly divine right to
rule the state as emperor could never have rendered the
Sclavonian groom, who had qualified for the throne as the
boon-companion of Michael the Drunkard, a fit person to
direct the progress of legislation. All that could be expected
from him was, that he should leam to appreciate the import-
ance of the subject, and adopt the labours of the jurisconsults
Digitized by VjOOQIC
240 B AS ILIA N DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch.l.$i.
who had assisted Bardas. It seems, therefore, probable that
he envied the popularity the Caesar had gained by his atten-
tion to legal business, and understood fully that there was no
surer mode of acquiring the goodwill of all classes than by
becoming himself a law reformer. Basil, however, though
eager to obtain the glory of publishing a new code, remained
personally incapable of guiding the work. A consequence of
his eagerness to obtain the desired end, and of his ignorance
of what was necessary to the proper performance of the task, is
apparent in the first legal work published by his authority,
called the Procheiron, or manual of law. The primary object
of this publication was to supplant the Ecloga of Leo III., in
order to efface the memory of the reforms of the Iconoclasts ^
The Procheiron appears to have been promulgated as early as
the year 870, and it bears marks of having been hurried into
premature publicity ^. The first half of the work is executed
in a completely different manner from the latter part. In the
earlier titles, the texts borrowed from the Institutions, Pan-
dects, Code, and Novels of Justinian, are arranged in r^fular
order, and are followed by the modem laws ; but this well-
arranged plan is abandoned in the latter titles, apparently
in consequence of a sudden determination having been adopted
to hurry forward the publication. The much-abused Ecloga
of Leo III. was then adopted as the most available guide-
book, and, in conjunction with the Institutes and Novels,
became the principal source consulted. The Pandects and
the Code were neglected, because they required too much
time and study for their arrangement.
This fact suggests the conclusion that a commission of
jurisconsults had been named as revisers of the law, who had
been sitting from the time of Bardas ; and these lawyers had
systematically proceeded to compile a manual of the law in
forty titles, and a new civil code or revision of the old law
in sixty books, in which they had made considerable progress,
when Basil suddenly hurried forward the premature publica-
tion of the manual in the form it now bears. It is impossible
* We must recollect that Basil was the colleague of Michael III. when the
tomb of Constantine V.. the saint, so to speak, of the Iconoclasts, was destroyed,
and we must connect this with the violent manner in which the Ecloga is criticised
in the Procheiron.
" For this date, see Mortreuil, Histoire du Droii Byzaniin, ii. 29, 30.
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THE BASILIKA. 241
AJ>. 867-886.]
that the same spirit can have directed the latter portion of the
work which dictated the compilation of the earlier. The
science of Bardas is visible in the one, the ignorance of Basil in
the other. For many years Basil remained satisfied with his
performance as a legislator, for he was unable to appreciate
the l^al wants of the empire; but the subject was again
forced on his attention by the confusion that prevailed in the
sources of the law, to which the tribunals were still compelled
to refer.
At length, in the year 884, a new code, embracing the
whole legislation of the empire in one work, was published
under the title of the Revision of the Old Law. The respect
paid to the laws of Rome was so deeply implanted in the
minds of the people, that new laws, however superior they
might have been, could not have insured the support, which
was claimed by a legislation regarded as the legitimate repre-
sentative of the Roman jurisprudence, clothed in a Greek dress.
The code of Basil was nothing but a compilation from the
Greek translations of Justinian's laws, and the commentaries
on them which had received the sanction of the Byzantine
tribunals and legal schools. But this revision of the old law
was hurried forward to publicity on account of some special
reason^ su^ested either by imperial vanity or accidental
policy. In the Procheiron, Basil had announced that the
revised code about to be promulgated consisted of sixty books,
yet, when he published it, the work was divided into forty.
This premature edition was, however, again revised by Leo VI.;
and it is the new and more complete code published by that
emperor in sixty books, as originally announced, which we
now possess under the title of Basilika, or imperial laws ; but
no perfect manuscript has been preserved ^.
The object of the Basilian legislation was too simple not to
have been long in agitation before the precise plan on which
it was ultimately executed was adopted. The Basilika is
merely a reunion, in one work, of all the sources of Roman
law in vigour at the time, without any attempt to condense
them . into clearer and more precise rules. Every law or
maxim of jurisprudence actually in force, is arranged under
' A new edition of the Basilika, in the imperfect state in which it has reached
OS, has been lately published by HeimLach, in five quarto volumes.
VOL. IL R
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a4a BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.H.Ch.I.§i.
Its own head In a series of books and titles, distributed so as
to facilitate their use in the courts of law and chambers of
counsel*. Some modern commentaries have been added to
the work as we possess it, which appear not to have formed
part of the original text.
After the promulgation of the first edition of the Basilika,
Basil published a second legal manual, to serve as an intro-
duction to its study. It is called the Epanagoge, but it
appears never to have attained the popularity of the Ecloga
and the Procheiron ^.
The Basilika remained the law of the Byzantine empire
until its conquest by the Franks, and it continued in use as
the national law of the Greeks at Nicaea, Constantinople, and
Trebizond, and in the Morea, until they were conquered by
the Ottomans. The want of a system of law growing up out
of the social exigencies of the people, and interwoven in its
creation with national institutions, is a serious defect in Greek
civilization. Since the time of the Achaian league, the Greeks
have not possessed a national government, and they have
never possessed a national system of laws ; hence their com-
munal institutions and municipal rights have received only
such protection as the church could afford them ; and even
the church was generally the subservient instrument of the
Roman, Byzantine, and Turkish governments.
Basil found the army in a much better state than the
financial administration ; for, even amidst the disorders of
Michael's reign, measures had been taken to maintain the
discipline of the troops. Basil had, consequently, only to
maintain the army on the footing on which he found it.
Being personally without either military experience or scientific
knowledge, he can only be considered responsible for the
general direction of the military affairs of his reign ; and in
this he does not appear to have displayed much talent. He
allowed the Saracens to take Syracuse, while he kept the
sailors of the imperial navy employed in digging the founda-
tions of a new church, and the ships in transporting marbles
and building materials for its construction ^ Basil, indeed,
' Leo^s edict at the commencement of Heimbach*s edition of the Basilika.
* The Epanagoge has been published with the Ecloga by Zadiaria. CoUeetio
librorum Juris Graeco-Romani, Lipsiae, 1853.
f Leo Gramm. 473.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
PAULICIAN WAR. 243
AJ). 867-886.]
like all his predecessors, appeared more than once at the head
of his armies in the East; for this was a duty which no
emperor of Constantinople since Leo III. had ventured to
neglect It is probable, however, that his presence was
calculated rather to restrain than to excite the activity of his
generals, who were sure to be rendered responsible for any
want of success, and to be deprived of every merit in case of
victory; while if they eclipsed the glory of the emperor by
any brilliant personal exploits, they might become objects of
jealousy.
The principal military operation of Basil's reign was the
war he carried on with the Paulicians. This sect first made
its appearance in Armenia about the middle of the seventh
century, in the reign of Constans II., and it was persecuted
by that emperor. Constantine IV. (Pogonatus), Justinian II.,
and Leo III., all endeavoured to extirpate the heresy as one
which threatened the unity of the church ; for unity in reli-
gious opinions was then regarded as the basis of the prosperity
of the empire, and a portion of its political constitution^.
Constantine V., after conquering Melitene, transported num-
bers of Asiatic colonists into Thrace, many of whom were
converts to the Paulician doctrines ^ Under this emperor
and his immediate successors they enjoyed toleration, and
made many converts in Pontus, Cappadocia, Phrygia, and
Pisidia ^ Nicephorus allowed them all the rights of citizens,
and they continued to be loyal subjects, until Michael I. com-
menced persecuting them in the most barbarous manner.
This circumstance, though it affords the orthodox historian
Theophanes great delight, ultimately prepared the way for
the depopulation of Asia Minor *. These cruelties continued
under Leo V., until some of the Paulicians, rising in rebellion,
slew the bishop of Neocaesarea, and the imperial commis-
sioners engaged in torturing them, and withdrew into the
province of Melitene, under the protection of the caliph.
From this period they are often found forming the vanguard
of the Saracen invasions into the south-eastern provinces of
* The Montanists, in the edict of Leo HI. (Theoph. 336), are supposed by
Baronias to be Manichaeans, which was then often an epithet for Paulicians.
IfoioM in Tkeophantm, p. 620. See p. 34 of this volume.
* Theoph. 354 and 360. See pp. 50 and 60 of this volume.
* Theoph. 413,
* Ibid. 419.
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244 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.L§i.
the Byzantine empire. Under Michael II. and Theophilus
some degree of religious toleration was restored, and the
Paulicians within the bounds of the empire were allowed
to hold their religious opinions in tranquillity. But their
persecution recommenced during the regency of Theodora;
and the cruelty with which they were treated drove such
numbers into rebellion, that they were enabled to found an
independent republic, as has been already mentioned *. If we
believe the friends of the Paulicians, they were strict Chris-
tians, who reverenced the teaching of St. Paul, and proposed
him as their sole guide and legislator ; but if we credit their
enemies, they were Manichaeans, who merged Christianity
in their heretical opinions.
The little republic founded by the Paulicians at Tephrike,
against which the armies of the Emperor Michael III. con-
tended without any decided success, though it owed its
foundation to religious opinion, soon became a place of refuge
for all fugitives from the Byzantine empire ; and its existence
as a state, on the frontier of a bigoted and oppressive govern-
ment, became a serious danger to the emperors of Constan-
tinople. Chrysochir, the son-in-law of Karbeas, succeeded
his father in the command of the armed bands of Tephrike,
and supported his army by plundering the Byzantine pro-
vinces, as the Danes or Normans about the same time main-
tained themselves by their expeditions in France and England.
The number of prisoners taken by the Paulicians was so great
that Basil found himself compelled to send an embassy to
Tephrike, for the purpose of ransoming his subjects. Petrus
Siculus, the ambassador, remained at Tephrike about nine
months, but was unable to effect any peaceable arrangement
with Chrysochir. He has, however, left us a valuable account
of the Paulician community ^ During his residence at Teph-
rike, he discovered that the Paulicians had sent ambassadors
into Bulgaria, to induce the king of that newly converted
country to form an alliance with them, and missionaries to
persuade the people to propagate their doctrines, which were
' See p. 169 of this volume.
* Petn Siculi Historia Mnniehaeorum seu Paulieianorum. Getting. 1846. Photins*
work, Libri iv. contra Manichaeos^ in Wolf*s Anecdota Graica, contains a refiitatioD
of the doctrines attributed to the Paulicians, as well as of those professed bf
them.
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PAULICIAN WAR. 245
U). 867-886.]
prevalent in some districts of Thrace. The ravages committed
by the Paulician troops, the bad success of the embassy of
Peter Siculus, and the danger that Chrysochir might extend
his power by new alliances, determined Basil at length to
make a powerful effort for the destruction of this alarming
enemy. It was evident that nothing short of extermination
could put an end to their plundering expeditions.
In 871, Basil made his first attack on the Paulicians ; but,
after destroying some of their villages, he suffered a severe
check, and lost a considerable portion of his army, he himself
only escaping in consequence of the valour of Theophylactus,
the father of the future emperor, Romanus I., who by this
exploit brought himself forward in the army*. Fortunately
for Basil, the repeated seditions of the Turkish mercenaries at
Bagdad had weakened the power of the caliphate ; a succes-
sion of revolutions caused the deposition and murder of several
caliphs within the space of a few years, and some of the
distant provinces of the immense empire of the Abassides had
already established independent governments 2. The Pauli-
cians, therefore, could obtain no very important aid from the
Saracens, who, as we are informed by Basil's son, the Emperor
Leo VI., in his work on military tactics, were regarded as the
best soldiers in the world, and far superior both to the Bulga-
rians and Franks. Basil found little difficulty in driving all
the plundering bands of the Paulicians back into their own
territory; but it was dangerous to attempt the siege of
Tephrike as long as the enemy could assemble an army in
the frontier towns of the caliph's dominions with which they
might operate on the rejw of the besiegers. The empires of
Constantinople and Bagdad were at war, though hostilities
had for some time been languidly carried on. Basil now
resolved to capture or destroy the fortified towns which
afforded aid to the Paulicians. After ravaging the territory
of Melitene, he sent his general, Christophoros, with a division
of the army to capture Sozopetra and Samosata ; while he
himself crossed the Euphrates, and laid waste the country as
» For the first campaign against the Paulicians. see Symeon Mag. (455). Georg.
Mon. (544)» and Leo Gramm. (471); and for the second, compare Constant.
Porphyr. {Basilius, 166), and Cedreniis (570).
* From the year 861 to R70 the throne of Bagdad was occupied by five caliphs,
three of whom were dethroned Egypt and Chorasan rebelled during this period,
and several independent dynasties arose.
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246 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.I.51.
far as the Asanias. On his return, the emperor fought a
battle with the emir of Melitene, who had succeeded in col-
lecting an army to dispute his progress. The success of this
battle was not so decided as to induce Basil to besiege either
Melitene or Tephrike, and he returned to Constantinople,
leaving his general to prosecute the war. In the mean time,
Chrysochir, unable to maintain his troops without plunder,
invaded Cappadocia, but was overtaken by Christophoros at
Agranes, where his movements were circumscribed by the supe-
rior military skill of the Byzantine general. Chrysochir found
himself compelled to retreat, with an active enemy watching
his march. Christophoros soon surprised the Paulician camp,
and Chrysochir was slain in the battle. His head was sent to
Constantinople, that the Emperor Basil might fulfil a vow he
had made that he would pierce it with three arrows. Tephrike
was taken not long after, and destroyed. The town of Cata-
batala, to which the Paulicians retired after the loss of Tephrike,
was captured in the succeeding campaign, and the Paulician
troops, unable to continue their plundering expeditions, either
retreated into Armenia or dispersed. Many found means of
entering the Byzantine service, and were employed in southern
Italy against the African Saracens*.
The war with the Saracens continued, though it was not
prosecuted with vigour by either party. In the year 876, the
Byzantine troops gained possession of the fortress of Lulu,
the bulwark of Tarsus, which alarmed the Caliph Almutamid
for the safety of his possessions in Cilicia to such a degree,
that he entrusted their defence to his powerful vassal, Touloun,
the viceroy of Egypt ^. In the following year the Emperor
Basil, hoping to extend his conquests, again appeared at the
head of the army of Asia, and establi^ed his head-quarters at
Caesarea. His object was to drive the Saracens out of Cilicia,
but he only succeeded in ravaging the country beyond the
passes of Mount Taurus up to the suburbs of Germanicia,
Adana, and Tarsus, without being able to gain possession of
any of these cities ^. After the emperor's return to Constan-
tinople, the commander-in-chief of the army, Andrew the
Sclavonian, continued to ravage the Saracen territory, and
* Constant. Porphyr. Basilius, 192.
• Constant. Poiphyr. Basiliut, 172; Weil, Geschickte der CkaU/m, ii. 472.
» Constant. Porphyr. Basiliust 173; Symeon Mag. 476; Cedrenus, 574.
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SARACEN WAR. 247
ij>. 867-886.]
destroyed an army sent to oppose him on the banks of the
river Podandos. This defeat was, however, soon avenged by
the Mohammedans, who routed Stypiotes, the successor of
Andrew, with great loss, as he was preparing to besiege
Tarsus. In the thirteenth year of his reign (780), Basil again
invaded the caliphate, but failed in an attempt to take
Germanicia. The war was subsequently allowed to languish,
though the Saracens made several plundering expeditions
against the Christians, both by land and sea ; hut the fortress
of Lulu, and some other castles commanding the passes of
Mount Taurus, remained in the possession of the Byzantine
troops.
The Saracens of Africa had for some time past devastated
the shores of every Christian country bordering on the
Mediterranean, and plundered the islands of the Ionian Sea
and the Archipelago as regularly as the Paulicians had
ravaged Asia Minor. Basil was hardly seated on the throne
before an embassy from the Sclavonians of Dalmatia arrived
at Constantinople, to solicit his aid against these corsairs
A Saracen fleet of thirty-six ships had attacked Dalmatia,
in which a few Koman cities still existed, maintaining a
partial independence among the Sclavonian tribes, who
occupied the country. Several towns were taken by the
Saracens, and Ragusa, a place of considerable commercial
importance, was closely besieged^. Basil lost no time in
sending assistance to the inhabitants. A fleet of a hundred
vessels, under the admiral Niketas Oryphas, was prepared for
sea with all possible expedition : and the Saracens, hearing of
his approach, hastily abandoned the siege of Ragusa, after
they had invested it for fifteen months. The expedition of
Oryphas re-established the imperial influence in the maritime
districts of Dalmatia, and obtained from the Sclavonians a
direct recognition of the emperor's sovereignty. They re-
tained their own government, and elected their magistrates ;
and their submission to the Byzantine empire was purchased
by their being permitted to receive a regular tribute from
several Roman cities, which, in consideration of this payment,
retained possession of some districts on the mainland without
* Constant. Porphyr. Basiliu$, 179. The towns taken by the Saracens were
Bouluma Rosa, and the lower Dekateras. Constant. Porphyr. 2># Adm, Imp,
c. 30.
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248 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.I. §1.
the neighbouring Sclavonians exercising any jurisdiction over
these possessions. The Roman inhabitants in the islands on
the Dalmatian coast had preserved their alliance to the
Eastern emperors, and maintained themselves independent of
the Sclavonians, who conquered and colonized the mainland
in the reign of Heraclius. They received their governors and
judges from Constantinople *.
As early as the year 842, two rival princes, of Lombard
race, who disputed the possession of the duchy of Beneven-
tum, solicited assistance from the Saracens ; and the Infidels^
indifferent to the claims of either, but eager for plunder,
readily took part in the quarrel. A body of Saracens from
Sicily, which arrived for the purpose of assisting one of the
Christian claimants, resolved to secure a firm establishment in
Italy. To effect this they stormed the city of Bari, though
it belonged to their own ally. At Bari they formed a camp,
and made it their station for plundering the possessions of the
Frank and Byzantine empires on the coast of the Adriatic.
In 846, other bands of Sicilian Saracens landed at the
mouth of the Tiber, and plundered the churches of St
Peter and St. Paul, both then without the walls of Rome.
Indeed, the * mistress of the world ' was only saved from
falling into the hands of the Mohammedans by the troops of
the Emperor Louis II. (850). Shortly after, Pope Leo IV.
fortified the suburb of the Vatican, and thus placed the church
of St. Peter in security in the new quarter of the town called
the Leonine city'^. From this period the ravages of the
Saracens in Italy were incessant, and the proprietors who
dwelt in the country were compelled to build fortified towers,
strong enough to resist any sudden attack, and so high as to
be beyond the reach of fire kindled at their base. The
manners formed by this state of savage insecurity coloured
the history of Italy with dark stains for several centuries.
In the year 867, the Emperor Louis II. exerted himself to
restrain the ravages of the Saracens. He laid siege to Bari,
and sent ambassadors to Constantinople to solicit the co-
operation of a Byzantine fleet. The fleet of Oryphas,
* Constant. Porphyr. Be Adm. Imp, c. 30, p. 146, edit. Bonn. The tribute paid
by the Roman cities to the Sclavonians was as follows: Aspalathus (Spalato),
200 nomismata or gold byzants; Tetrangurium (Trau\ Opsara. Aibe, Bekla, each
100; Jadera (near Zara), no: and Ragusa, for its rural district, 73.
■ A.D. 853. Voltaire, Annales de V Empire^ a.d. 847 ; Essai sur les Mmurs^ c a8.
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SARACENS IN ITALY. 249
AJ). 867-886.]
strengthened by the naval forces of the Dalmatian cities, was
ordered to assist the operations of the Western emperor ; but
the pride of the court of Constantinople (more sensitive than
usual) prevented the conclusion of a treaty with a sovereign
who claimed to be treated as emperor of the West^. In
February, 871, Louis carried the city of Bari by assault, and
put the garrison to the sword. The Franks and Greeks
disputed the honour of the conquest, and each attempted to
turn it to their own profit, so that the war was continued in a
desultory manner, without obtaining any decided results.
The cultivators of the soil were in turn plundered by the
Lombard princes, the Saracen corsairs, and the German and
Byzantine emperors. The Saracens again attacked Rome,
and compelled Pope John VIIL to purchase their retreat by
engaging to pay an annual tribute of 25,000 marks of silver.
The south of Italy was a scene of political confusion. The
Dukes of Naples, Amalfi, and Salerno joined the Saracens
in plundering the Roman territory; but Pope John VIIL,
placing himself at the head of the Roman troops, fought
both with Christians and Mohammedans, won battles, and cut
off the heads of his prisoners, without the slightest reference
to the canons of the church. The bishop of Naples, as bold a
warrior as the Pope, dethroned his own brother, and put out
bis eyes, on the pretext that he had allied himself with the
Infidels ; yet, when the bishop had possessed himself of his
brother's dukedom, he also kept up communications with the
Saracens, and aided them in plundering the territory of
Rome. This lawless state of affairs induced the Italians to
turn for security to the Byzantine empire. The troops of
Basil rendered themselves masters of Bari without diflficulty,
and the extent of the Byzantine province in southern Italy
was greatly extended by a series of campaigns, in which
Nicephorus Phokas, grandfather of the emperor of the same
name, distinguished himself by his prudent conduct and able
tactics 2. The Saracens were at last expelled from all their
' The naval force of the Sclavonians in the Adriatic was not inconsiderable.
The Chrovatians alone had eighty gaUeys (sagenas), cafrying each forty men,
and one hundred konduras or boats, carrying twenty, besides merchant-ships.
Though a commercial people, they then abstained from piracy, which we know,
from Venetian history, all the Sclavonians in the Adriatic were addicted to at
a later period. Constant. Porphyr. De Adm. Imp. c. 30, p. 150, edit. Bonn.
• The £mi>eror Leo VI., in his work on military tactics, cites the campaign of
Nicephorus Phokas, in which he took Tarsus, as an example of able generalship.
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[Bk.n.Ch.I.51.
possessions in Calabria. The Byzantine government formed
its possessions into a province called the Theme of Longo-
bardia, but this province constantly varied in extent ; Gaeta>
Naples, Sorrento, and Amalfi acknowledged allegiance to the
Emperor of Constantinople, but his authority was often
very little respected in these cities.
While Basil was successful in extending his power in Italy,
the Saracens revenged themselves in Sicily by the conquest of
Syracuse, which fell into their hands in 878, and placed them
in possession of the whole island. The city, though besi^ed
on the land side by the Saracens established in Sicily, and
blockaded by a fleet from Africa, made a gallant defence,
and might have been relieved had the emperor shown more
activity, or intrusted the force prepared for its relief to a com-
petent officer. The expedition he seat, though it was delayed
until nothing could be effected without ra.pid movements,
wasted two months in the port of Monemvasia, where it re-
ceived the news of the fall of Syracuse. The loss of the last
Greek city in Sicily was deeply felt by the people of the
Byzantine empire, on account of its commercial importance ;
and it was reported that the news of so great a calamity to
the Christian world was first made known to the inhabitants
of Greece by an assembly of demons, who met in the forest of
Helos, on the banks of the Eurotas, to rejoice at the event,
where their revels were witnessed by a Laconian shepherd ^
Satan seems to have treated the ruin of a Greek city as a
matter of more importance than the orthodox emperor Basil
treated it. The daring with which the Saracens carried on
their naval expeditions over the Mediterranean at this period
is a remarkable feature in the state of society. The attacks
of the Danes and Normans on the coasts of England and
France were not more constant nor more terrible.
Some of these expeditions deserve to be noticed, in order
to point out the great destruction of capital and the dis-
organization of society they caused. For some years they
threatened the maritime districts of the Eastern Empire with
as great a degree of insecurity as that from which they had
been delivered by Leo III. In the year 881, the emir of
Institutions Militaires de VEmpereur Lion U Philosopher traduites par M. Joly de
Maizeroy, ii. 75.
* Constant. Porphyr. Basilius^ 191 ; Cedrenus, ii. 585.
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Tarsus, with a fleet of thirty large ships, laid siege to Chalcis,
on the Euripus ; but Oiniates, the general of the theme of Hel-
las, assembled the troops in his province, the emir was killed
in an attempt to storm the place, and the Saracen expedition
was completely defeated*. Shortly after this, the Saracens of
Crete ravaged the islands of the Archipelago with a fleet of
twenty-seven large ships and a number of smaller vessels^.
Entering the Hellespont, they plundered the island of Procon-
nesus ; but they were overtaken and defeated by the imperial
fleet under Oryphas. Undismayed by their losses, they fitted
out a new fleet, and recommenced their ravages, hoping to
avoid the Byzantine admiral by doubling Cape Taenarus, and
plundering the western shores of Greece. Niketas Oryphas,
on visiting the port of Kenchreae, found that the corsairs were
already cruising off" the entrance of the Adriatic. He promptly
transported his galleys over the isthmus of Corinth by the
ancient tram-road, which had been often used for the same
purpose in earlier times, and which was still kept in such a
state of repair that all his vessels were conveyed from sea to
sea in a single night^ The Saracens, surprised by the sudden
arrival of a fleet from a quarter where they supposed there
was no naval force, fought with less courage than usual, and
lost all their ships. The cruelty with which the captives,
especially the renegades, were treated, was to the last degree
inhuman, and affords sad proof of the widespread misery and
deep exasperation their previous atrocities had produced, as
well as of the barbarity of the age. No torture was spared by
the Byzantine authorities*. Shortly after this an African
fleet of sixty vessels, of extraordinary size, laid waste Zante
and Cephallenia. Nasar, the Byzantine admiral, who suc-
ceeded Niketas Oryphas, while in pursuit of this fleet, touched
at Methone to re-victual ; but at that port all his rowers
deserted, and his ships were detained until the general of the
Peloponnesian theme replaced them by a levy of Mardattes
* Constant. Porphyr. Basilius, 184; Cedrenus,ii. 580.
' Constant. Porphyr. Basilius, 185.
' The breadth of the isthmus is about four geographical miles— 5950 metres.
Zonaras (ii. 171) calls the vessels triremes, but they were certainly with only two
banks of oars, and were probably the kind of galley called dromones. [This
roadway was called in classical times the aIoKkom, and the expression used for
transporting vessels across was vvtptpipnv rdv ia0fi6y. Thuc viii. 7. Ed.]
* Constant. Porphyr. Basilius^ 186.
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252 BASIUAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.r.5f.
and other inhabitants of the peninsula*. The Byzantine naval
force, even after this contrariety, was again victorious over the
Saracens ; and the war of pillage was transferred into Sicily,
where the Greeks laid waste the neighbourhood of Palermo,
and captured a number of valuable merchant-ships, with such
an abundant supply of oil that it was sold at Constantinople
for an obolos the litra.
During these wars Basil recovered possession of the island
of Cyprus, but was only able to retain possession of it for
seven years, when the Saracens again reconquered it^.
Much of Basil's reputation as a wise sovereign is due to his
judicious adoption of administrative reforms, called for by the
disorders introduced into the government by the neglect of
Michael III. His endeavours to lighten the burden of tax-
ation, without decreasing the public revenues, was then a rare
merit. But the eulogies which his grandson and other flat-
terers have heaped on his private virtues deserve but little
credit. The court certainly maintained more outward decency
than in the time of his predecessor, but there are many proofs
that the reformation was merely external. Thekla, the sister
of the Emperor Michael III., who had received the imperial
crown from her father Theophilus, had been the concubine of
Basil, with the consent of her brother. After Basil assas-
sinated the brother, he neglected and probably feared the
sister, but she consoled herself with other lovers. It happened
that on some occasioa a person employed ia the household of
' MardaTtes are mentioned by Constant. Porphyr. {Basilius, 187), but whether
they were so called because they were descendants of a Syrian colony is not
certain. Probably the Mainates are meant. [The idea of identifying the Mardaltes
and Mainates originated with Fa41merayer (Ge<ehichte der Halbimel Morea, i. 208),
and has very little to be said in its favour. H©pf remarks (Brockhaus' GriecieH-
land, vol. vi. p. 130) that we hear of a town of Maina before a tribe of Mainates
is mentioned, and that the tribe probably derived its name from the town. ^Iiat
we know of the Mardaites is as follows. In the time of Constantine Pogooatos
this tribe occupied the passes of the Lebanon, and became subjects of the Byzantine
Empire (Cedrenus, i. 765, edit. Bonn). Justinian II., as a condition of peace
with the caliphs, removed a large part of this colony, thereby destroying an
important bulwark of the eastern frontier, and planted a number of them in
Armenia {ibid. 771). We subsequently hear of others— apparently some of those
removed at this time— in the Kibyrraiote theme in the south of Asia Minor
(Constant. Porphyr. De Adm. Imp. p. 229, edit. Bpnn^ and in the European
themes of Peloponnesus, Nicopolis, and Cephallenia {De Caertmon. p. 665, edit
Bonn). See Rambaud {V Empire grec au dixieme Siecle, pp. 213, 214), who is
disposed to identify them with the Maronites of the Lebanon, and the tribe of
Mirdites in northern Albania. I do not discover that there is much to support
this last identification beyond the similarity of name. Ed.]
* Constant Porphyr. De Thematibm, i. § 15.
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iU). 867-886.]
Thekla waited on the emperor, who, with the rude facetious-
ness he inherited from the stable-yard, asked the domestic,
*Who lives with your mistress at present?* The individual
(Neatokomites) was immediately named, for shame was out
of the question in such society. But the jealousy of Basil was
roused by this open installation of a successor in the favours
of one who had once occupied a place on the throne he had
usurped, and he ordered Neatokomites to be seized, scourged,
and immured for life in a monastery. It is said that he
was base enough to order Thekla to be ill-treated, and to
confiscate great part of her private fortuned The Empress
Eudocia Ingerina avenged Thekla, by conducting herself
on the throne in* a manner more pardonable in the mistress
of Michael the Drunkard than in the wife of Basil. When
her amours were discovered, the emperor prudently avoided
scandal, by compelling her lover to retire privately into a
monastery.
The most interesting episode in the private history of
Basil is the friendship of Danielis, the Greek lady of Patrae.
As she had laid the foundation of his wealth while he was
only a servant of Theophilitzes, we may believe that she was
eager to see him when she heard that he was seated on the
imperial throne. But though she might boast of having been
the first to perceive his merits, she must have doubted
whether she would be regarded as a welcome visitor at
court. Basil, however, was not ungrateful to those who had
assisted him in his poverty, and he sent for the son of his
benefactor, and raised him to the rank of protospatharios.
The widow also received an invitation to visit Constantinople,
* This same Joannes Neatokomites had of old been a rival of Basil, for he had
attempted to put the Caesar Bardas on his guard against the conspiracy by which
he lost his life. Leo Gramm. 465. Thelda has been usually called the sister
of Basil and the concubine of Michael III. Gibbon has adopted this view, for
he says, ' Basil was raised and supported by a disgraceful marriage with a royal
concubine (Eudocia), and the dishonour of his sister (Thekla), who succeeded
to her place:* vol. vi. p. 97. Le Beau (xiii. 284) is more decided and more
detailed. Georg. Mon. (545), in recounting the anecdote, certainly calls Thekla
the sister of the emperor, and from this it is inferred she must have been the
sister of the reigning emperor Basil ; but a comparison of Leo Gramm. (464 and
471). — the Latin translation calls her the sister of Michael, without this being
said in the Greek text, — and especially Symeon Mag. (446) and Georg Mon.
(536). prove that she was the sister of Michael III. She had been compelled
to adopt the monastic dress, to deprive her of the title of Empress, which she had
received from her father Theophilus. Both gold and silver coins of Thekla exist.
Saulcy, Eaai^ 192 ; Sabatier, Deter iption genSrtdt des monnaies byzantirus, ii. 100.
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254 BASIL/AN DYNAST y.
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and see her adopted son seated on the throne — which, it was
said, she had long believed he was destined by heaven to fill ;
for it had been reported that, when Basil first entered the
cathedral of St. Andrew at Patrae, a monk was seized with a
prophetic vision, and proclaimed that he was destined to
become emperor. This prophecy Danielis had heard and
believed. The invitation must have afforded her the highest
gratification, as a proof of her own discernment in selecting
one who possessed affection and gratitude, as well as great
talents and divine favour. The old lady was the possessor of
a princely fortune, and her wealth indicates that the state
of society in the Peloponnesus was not very dissimilar in the
ninth century from what it had been in the first centuries of
our era, under the Roman government, when Caius Antonius
and Eurykles were proprietors of whole provinces, and
Herodes Atticus possessed riches that an emperor might
have envied \
The lady Danielis set off from Patrae in a litter or covered
couch, carried on the shoulders of ten slaves ; and the train
which followed her, destined to relieve these litter-bearers,
amounted to three hundred persons. When she reached
Constantinople, she was lodged in the palace of Magnaura
appropriated for the reception of princely guests. The rich
presents she had prepared for the emperor astonished the
inhabitants of the capital, for no foreign monarch had ever
offered gifts of equal value to a Byzantine sovereign. The
slaves that bore the gifts were themselves a part of the
present, and were all distinguished for their youth, beauty,
and accomplishments. Four hundred young men, one hun-
dred eunuchs, and one hundred maidens, formed the living
portion of this magnificent offering. A hundred pieces of the
richest coloured drapery, one hundred pieces of soft woollen
cloth, two hundred pieces of linen, and one hundred of
cambric, so fine that each piece could be enclosed in the
joint of a reed. To all this a service of cups, dishes, and
plates of gold and silver was added 2. Danielis found that
* Compare vol. i., Greece under the Romans, p. 66.
* The Emperor Constantine Porphjrrogenitus, who knew something about the
matter, says that the old lady knew that eunudis are collected about the conrt
like blue-bottle flies round a sheep-fold; p. 195. A curious dissertation might
be written as a conuaentary on the presents.
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WEALTH OF DANIELIS. 2^5
A.D. 867-886.]
the emperor had constructed a magnificent church as an
expiation for the murder of his benefactor, Michael III.
She sent orders to the Peloponnesus to manufacture carpets
of unusual size, in order to cover the whole floor, and protect
the rich mosaic pavement, in which a peacock with outspread
tail surpassed every similar work of art by the extreme
brilliancy of its colouring. Before the widow quitted Con-
stantinople, she settled a considerable portion of her estates in
Greece on her son, the protospatharios, and on her adopted
child the emperor, in joint property.
After Basil's deaths she again visited Constantinople ; her
own son was also dead, so she constituted the Emperor
Leo VI. her sole heir. On quitting the capital for the last
time, she desired that the protospathar Zenobios might be
despatched to the Peloponnesus, for the purpose of preparing
a raster of her extensive estates and immense property.
She died shortly after her return ; and even the imperial
officers were amazed at the amount of her wealth. The
quantity of gold coin, gold and silver plate, works of art in
bronze, furniture, rich stuffs in linen, cotton, wool, and silk,
cattle and slaves, palaces and fj^trms, formed an inheritance
that astonished even an emperor of Constantinople. The
slaves, of which the Emperor Leo became the proprietor,
were so numerous that he ordered three thousand to be
enfranchised and sent to the theme of Longobardia, as Apulia
was then called, where they were put in possession of land,
which they cultivated as serfs. After the payment of many
l^^cies, and the division of a part of the landed property,
according to the dispositions of the testament, the emperor
remained possessor of eighty farms or villages. The notice
of this inheritance furnishes a curious glimpse into the condi-
tion of society in Greece during the latter period of the ninth
century, which is the period when the Greek race began to
recover a numerical superiority and prepare for the con-
solidation of its political ascendancy over the Sclavonian
colonists in the Peloponnesus. Unfortunately, history sup-
plies us with no contemporary facts that point out the
precise causes of the diminution of the relative numbers of the
Sclavonians and the rapid increase in the absolute numbers
of the Greek agricultural population. We are left to seek for
explanations of these facts in the general laws which regulate
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[Mc.ii.a.i.§i.
the progress of population and produce vicissitudes in the
state of society.
The steps by which Basil mounted the throne were never
forgotten by political and military adventurers, who con-
sidered the empire a fit prize for a successful conspirator.
John Kurkuas, a patrician of great wealth, who commanded
the Ikanates, expected to seize the crown as a lawful prize,
and engaged sixty-six of the leading men in the public
administration to participate in his design. The plot was
revealed to Basil by some of the conspirators, who perceived
they could gain more by a second treachery than by persist-
ing in their first treason. Kurkuas was seized, and his eyes
were put out : the other conspirators were scourged in the
hippodrome ; their heads were shaved, their beards burned off,
and after being paraded through the capital they were exiled,
and their estates confiscated. The clemency of Basil in
inflicting these paternal punishments, instead of exacting the
penalties imposed by the law of treason, is lauded by his
interested historians. The fate of Kurkuas, however, only
claims our notice, because he was the father of John Kurkuas,
a general whom the Byzantine writers consider as a hero
worthy to be compared with Trajan and Belisarius. Kurkuas
was also the great-grandfather of the Emperor John Zimiskes,
one of the ablest soldiers who ever occupied the throne of
Constantinople ^.
Though Basil founded the longest dynasty that ruled the
Byzantine empire, the race proceeded from a corrupt source.
Constantine, the son of Basil's first wife, Maria, was r^p^rded
with much affection by his father, and received the imperial
crown in the year 868, but died about the year 879. The
loss was severely felt by the emperor, who expressed an eager
desire to be assured that his favourite child enjoyed eternal
felicity. The abbot Theodoros Santabaren took advantage
of this paternal solicitude to impose on the emperor's super-
stition and credulity. A phantom, which bore the likeness of
Constantine, met the emperor while he was hunting, and
galloped towards him, until it approached so near that Basil
could perceive the happy expression of his son's face. It then
faded from his sight ; but the radiant aspect of the vision
* Constant. Porphyr. BasUius, 172 ; Symeon Mag. 460.
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satisfied the father that his deceased son was received to
grace,
Leo, the eldest child of Eudocia, was generally believed to
be the son of Michael the Drunkard ; and though Basil had
conferred on him the imperial crown in his infancy (a.D. 870),
he seems never to have regarded him with feelings of affection.
It would seem he entertained the common opinion con-
cerning the parentage of Leo. The latter years of Basil were
clouded with suspicion of his heir, who he feared might avenge
the murder of Michael, even at the risk of becoming a parri-
cide. Whether truly or not, young Leo was accused of
plotting against Basil's life before he was sixteen years of
age^. The accusation was founded on the discovery of a
dagger concealed in the boot of the young prince, while he
was in attendance on his father at a hunting-party, when
Byzantine etiquette demanded that he should be unarmed.
The historians who wrote under the eye of Leo's son, Con-
stantine Porphyrogenitus, pretend that the abbot Theodores
Santabaren persuaded Leo to conceal the weapon for his own
defence, and then informed Basil that his son was armed to
attempt his assassination. The charge underwent a full
examination, during which the young emperor was deprived
of the insignia of the imperial rank ; but the result of the
investigation must have proved his innocence, for, in spite of
the suspicions rooted in BasiFs mind, he was restored to his
rank as heir-apparent ^.
The cruelty displayed by Basil in his latter days loosens
the tongues of his servile historians, and indicates that he
never entirely laid aside the vices of his earlier years. While
engaged in hunting, to which he was passionately devoted,
a stag that had been brought to bay rushed at him, and,
striking its antlers into his girdle, dragged him from his horse.
One of the attendants drew the hunting-knife, and, cutting the
* Georg. Mod. (541), Leo Gramm. (468), and Zonaras (ii. 166), indicate that
Leo was considered the son of Michael III. Symeon Mag. 455. Georg. Mon.
(544) and Leo Gramm. (471) S(^eak of Alexander as the legitimate child of Basil
in opposition to Leo. Leo was crowned 6th January 870. Krug, 39.
* Ihe people of Thessalonica still show a tower, in which they say Leo was
confined during the time he was deprived of the imperial title. I could not
succeed in obtaining permission to visit it. Perhaps some Byzantine inscription
in Uie walls has caused the tradition. A private English traveUer, who has
neither wealth nor title, does not meet with the same facilities in literary researches
as a foreigner.
VOL. II. S
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258 BASIL! AN DYNASTY.
[Bk II.Ch.I.§l
girdle, saved the emperor's life; but the suspicious despot,
fearing an attempt at assassination, ordered his faithful servant
to be immediately decapitated. The shock he received from
the stag brought on a fever, which terminated his eventfal
life, and he ended his reign, as he had commenced it, by the
murder of a benefactor. Though he was a judicious and able
sovereign, he has been unduly praised, because he was one of
the most orthodox emperors of Constantinople in the opinion
of the Latin as well as of the Gre^k church ^.
Sect. II.— Leo VI. {the Philosopher), A.D. 886-91!!.
Character and court of Leo VI. — Ecclesiastical administration. — LegislatioQ —
Saracen war. — Taking of Thessalonica. — Bulgarian war.
Leo the Philosopher gave countenance to the rumour that
he was the son of Michael III. by one of the first acts of his
reign. He ordered the body of the murdered emperor to be
transported from Chrysopolis, where it had been interred by
Theodora, and entombed it with great ceremony in the Church
of the Holy Apostles.
In every characteristic of a sovereign Leo differed from
Sasil, and almost every point of difference was to the dis-
advantage of the Philosopher. The ease with which the
throne was retained by a man such as Basil had been before
he became sole emperor, is explained, when we see a trifling
pedant like Leo ruling the empire without difficulty. The
energy which had reinvigorated the Eastern Empire under
the Iconoclasts was now dormant, and society had degenerated
as much as the court. When the foundations of the Byzan-
tine government were laid by Leo III., society was as eager
to reform its own vices as the emperor was to improve the
administration ; but when Basil mounted the throne, the
people were as eager to enjoy their wealth as the emperor
to gratify his ambition. The emperors of Constantinople, as
* BasiUs detennination to keep on good terms with the Pope, his zeal in building
churches, and his eagerness to baptize Jews, made him powerful friends in his
own age, whose opinions have been reflected in modem history; but Zonams
represents him as an ignorant and superstitious bigot. It is needless to say that
he cannot have composed the advice to his hopeful son, Leo the Philosopher,
which appears in the Byzantine Collection as his work.
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CHARACTER OF LEO VI. 259
AJ>. 886-913.
the throne was to a certain degree elective, are generally types
of their age ; and though Leo the Philosopher succeeded as
the son and successor of Basil, no sovereign ever represented
the character of his age better. He typifies the idle spirit of
conservatism as correctly as Constantine V. does the aggres-
sive energy of progress.
Leo VI. was a man of learning and a lover of luxurious
ease, a conceited pedant and an arbitrary but mild despot.
Naturally of a confined intellect, he owes his title of * the
Philosopher,' or * the Learned,' rather to the ignorance of the
people, who attributed to him an acquaintance with the
secrets of astrological science, than either to his own attain-
ments, or to any remarkable patronage he bestowed on learned
men ^ His personal character, however, exercised even greater
influence on the public administration of the empire than that
of his predecessors, for the government was now so completely
despotic that the court, rather than the cabinet, directed the
business of the state. Hence it was that the empire met with
disgraceful disasters at a period when its force was sufficient
to have protected all its subjects. The last traces of the
Roman constitution were suppressed, and the trammels of an
inviolable court ceremonial, and the invariable routine of
administrators and lawyers, were all that was preserved of the
institutions of an earlier and grander period. The complete
consolidation of Byzantine despotism is recorded in the edicts
of Leo, suppressing the old municipal system, and abolishing
senatus-consulta *. The language of legislation became as
' I.eo*s works consist of some poetical oracles and hymns, and a treatise on
military tactics. The oracles are published at the end of Codinus, Be Anttquitatibus
Constaniinopolitttnis, and the Tactics in Lamp's edition of the works of Menrsius,
torn, ri., and separately. Leonis Imp. Taetica, sive De Re miWari Liber, J. Meursius
grmece primus vulgavit et notas adjecit. Lugd. Bat. 1612. 4to. There is a French
translation of the Tactics by Joly de Maizeroy. [The Oracles of Leo the Philo-
sopher, which were exceedingly enigmatical, were preserved in the library of the
palace at Constantinople. £ the Greek Chronicle of the Morea (Prologue, w.
082-903, in Buchon, /2ecA«rcA#s Historiqves, Premiere Epoque, vol. ii. p. 34: and
Ckroniques Strawrires, vol. i. p. 20) it is said that Leo had prophesied that a per-
fidious emperor should be cast from the top of a column in the forum of Taurus,
and that this was fulfilled when the Crusaders, after the capture of Constantinople,
cast the Emperor Murtzuphlos from thence.. Fragments of a mediaeval popular
▼ersion or interpretation of these oracles have been lately published by M. Legrand
in bis Collee/ion de Monumentt pour servir a Vetude de la lanfrve nio-helllnique
(Nouvelle S^rie, No. 5), applying thjm to the circumstances of the period of the
occupation of Constantinople by tne Latins. These fragments are full of com-
plaints of the misery of rfie lime, and of anticipation of coming disasters. See
the prefatory notice by M. Gidel. E^.]
' LtonU NovdloM, Const xlvi. Ixxviii.
S 2
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26o BASIUAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.I.5a.
despotic as the acts of the emperor were arbitrary. Two
Patriarchs, Photius and Nikolaos, were removed from the
government of the church by the emperor's order. Leo lived
in open adultery on a throne from which Constantine VI. had
been driven for venturing on a second marriage while his
divorced wife was living. Yet Zoe, the fourth wife of Leo VI.,
gave birth to the future emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus,
in the purple chamber of the imperial palace, before the
marriage ceremony had been performed ^ A Saracen renegade,
named Samonas, was for years the prime favourite of the
infatuated Leo, who raised him to the rank of patrician, and
allowed him to stand god-father to his son Constantine,
though great doubts were entertained of the orthodoxy, or
perhaps of the Christianity, of this disreputable favourite*.
The expenditure of the imperial household was greatly
increased ; the revenue previously destined to the service
of the empire was diverted to the gratification of the court,
and corruption was introduced into every branch of the ad-
ministration by the example of the emperor, who raised money
by selling offices. The Emperor Basil, like his predecessors,
had been contented to make use of a galley, with a single
bank of oars, in his visits to the country round Constantinople;
but Leo never condescended to move unless in a dromon of
two banks of oars, rowed by two hundred men — and two of
these vessels were constantly maintained as imperial yachts ^
Constantine Porphyrogenitus recounts an anecdote concerning
the corruption at his father's court, which deserves particular
notice, as proving, on the best authority, that the emperor
encouraged the system by sharing in its profits. Ktenas,
a rich man in holy orders, and the best public singer of the
time, was extremely anxious to possess acknowledged rank at
the imperial court. He secured the support of Samonas, the
Saracen grand-chamberlain, and hoped to obtain the rank of
protospatharios, by offering to make the emperor a present of
forty pounds' weight of gold, the pay of the office amounting
only to a pound of gold annually. The emperor Leo refused,
declaring, as his son tells us, that it was a transaction un-
worthy of the imperial dignity, and that it was a thing unheard
* Contin. Constant. Porphyr. Leo, 2a8.
2 Ibid. 231 ; Symeon Mag. 468.
* Constant. Porphyr. DeAdm, Imp, c. 51.
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A.D 886-912]
of to appoint a clerk protospatharios. The old man, however,
by the means of Samonas, increased his offers, adding to his
first proposal a pair of earrings, worth ten pounds of gold, and
a richly-chased table of silver gilt, also worth ten pounds of
gold. This addition produced so great an effect on Leo's
mind, that, according to his own declaration, he disgraced the
imperial dignity, for he made a member of the clergy a proto-
spatharios. Constantine then chuckles at his father's good
fortune ; for after receiving sixty pounds' weight of gold, the
new protospatharios only lived to draw two years' pay ^.
The strongest contrast between the administration of Leo
and Basil was visible in the financial affairs of the empire.
Though the direct taxes were not increased, the careless
conduct of Leo, and his neglect to maintain the strict control
over the tax-gatherers exercised by his father, allowed every
species of abuse to creep into this branch of government, and
the people were subject to the severest oppression ^. Mono-
polies were also created in favour of the creatures of the court,
which were the cause of great complaints, and one of these
ultimately involved the empire in a most disastrous war with
the Bulgarians.
The state of the church in the Byzantine empire was always
important, as ecclesiastical affairs afforded the only oppor-
tunity for the expression of public opinion. A considerable
body of the clergy was more closely connected with the
people, by feelings and interests, than with the court. At
this time, however, all classes enjoyed a degree of sensual
abundance that rendered society torpid, and few were inclined
to take part in violent contests. The majority of the subjects
of the Byzantine empire, perhaps, never felt greater aversion
to the conduct of the government, both in civil and ecclesias-
tical matters ; and we may attribute the parade Leo made of
his divine right to govern both the state and the church, to
the fact that he was fully aware of the popular feeling ; but
no class of men saw any probability of bettering their condi-
tion, either by revolution or change, so that a bad government
began to be looked upon as one of the unavoidable evils of
* Constant. Porphyr. De Adm. Imp, c. 50. p. 232, edit. Bonn.
* Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentions the case of an iUiterate man being
appointed judge-admiral, a lawyer being joined with him as deputy to prepare
the decisions.
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[Bk.n.Ch.I.§3.
an advanced state of civilization, and as one of the inevitable
calamities which Heaven itself had interwoven in man's
existence.
The Emperor Leo VI. deposed the Patriarch Photius with-
out pretending any religious motive for the change. The
object was to confer the digmity on his brother Stephen, who
was then only eighteen years of ag«. Photius was banished
to a monastery in the Armeniac theme, where he survived
his deposition about five years, more universally respected,
and probably happier, than when he sat on the patriarchal
throne, though he had been excommunicated by nine popes
of Rome*. Leo was eager to punish the abbot Theodores
Santabaren, whom he regarded as the author of his degra-
dation and imprisonment during his father's reign. Failing
to procure evidence to convict the abbot of any crime, he
ordered him to be scourged and exiled to Athens. His eyes
were subsequently put out by the emperor's orders. But
Leo, though a tyrant, was not implacable, and some years
later Theodoros was recalled to Constantinople, and received
a pension.
The predominance of ceremony in religion is shown by the
legislative acts of the Byzantine government, relating to the
observance of the Sabbath. As early as the reign of Con-
stantine the Great, A.D. 3^1, there is a law commanding the
suspension of all civil business on Sunday; and this enact-
ment is enforced by a law of Theodosius L, in 386 *. During
the contests concerning image-worship, society was strict in
all religious observances, and great attention was paid to
Sunday. In the year 960, Leo the Philosopher, who was far
from affecting the practice of piety, even while he made a
parade of ecclesiastical observances, revoked all the exemp-
tions which the law had hitherto made in favour of the
performance of useful labour on Sunday, and forbade even
necessary agricultural work, as dishonouring the Lord's day.
Arguing with the bigotry of the predestinarian, that the
arbitrary will of God, and not the fixed laws which he has
revealed to man, gives abundant harvests to the earth, the
emperor regards the diligence of the agriculturist as of no
avail. Fate became the refuge of the human mind when the
* See p 334. * Cod. Theod, ii. 8. 18, Dt Ferik,
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government of Rome had rendered the improvement of pagan
society hopeless ; superstition assumed its place among the
Christians, and the stagnation of the Byzantine empire per-
suaded men that no prudence in the conduct of their affairs
could better man's condition.
Ecclesiastical affairs gave Leo very little trouble during his
reign, but towards its end he was involved in a dispute with
the Patriarch Nikolaos the mystic. After the death of Leo's
third wife, without male issue, the emperor, not wishing to
violate openly the laws of the Eastern church, enforced by his
own legislation, which forbade fourth marriages, installed the
beautiful Zoe Carbunopsina, a grand-niece of the historian
Theophanes, as his concubine in the palace ^ Zoe gave birth
to a son in the purple chamber, who was the celebrated
emperor and author, Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus).
The young prince was baptized in the Church of St. Sophia
by the Patriarch Nikolaos, but that severe ecclesiastic only
consented to officiate at the ceremony on receiving the em-
peror's promise that he would not live any longer with his
concubine. Three days after the baptism of Constantine, the
Emperor Leo celebrated his marriage with Zoe, and conferred
on her the imperial title, thus keeping his promise to the
Patriarch in one sense. But Nikolaos, indignant at having
been paltered with in a double sense, degraded the priest who
performed the nuptial ceremony, and interdicted the entry
of the church to Leo. The emperor only thought it neces-
sary to pay so much respect to the interdict as to attend
the church ceremonies by a private door ; and the people,
caring little about the quarrel, laughed when they saw the
imperial philosopher show so much wit. Leo, however, took
measures to gain the Pope's good-will, and when assured of
papal support, he deposed Nikolaos and appointed Euthymios
the syncellus his successor. The new Patriarch, though he
had been a monk on Mount Olympus, recognized the validity
of the emperor's fourth marriage, on the pretext that the
public good required the ecclesiastical laws to yield to the
exigencies of the state. The populace, to excuse their
Patriarch, believed a report that the emperor had threatened,
> Basil had prohibited fourth marriages; Mortreuil, ii. a8o: and Leo himself
had subjected third marriages to ecclesiastic^^ censure ; Const, xc.
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164 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.lI.Cb.1.4 ai
in case the Patriarch refused to recognize the validity of his
marriage with Zoe, to publish a law allowing every man to
marry four wives at the same time. This rumour, notwith-
standing its absurdity, affords strong proof of the absolute
power of the emperor, and of the credulity with which the
Greeks received every rumour unfavoifrable to their rulers ^.
The legislative labours of Leo's reign are more deserving of
attention than his ecclesiastical skirmishes, though he only
followed in the traces of his father, and made use of materials
already prepared to his hand. We have already noticed that
he published a revised edition of the Basilika, to which he
added a considerable amount of supplementary legislation.
Byzantine law, however, even after it had received all the
improvements of Leo, was ill suited to serve as a practical
guide to the population of the empire. The Basilika is an
inspiration of imperial pride, not a work whose details follow
the suggestions of public utility. Whole titles are filled
with translations of imperial edicts, useless in the altered
circumstances of the empire; and one of the consequences
of the ill-devised measure of adopting an old code was, that
no perfect copy of the Basilika has been preserved. Many
books fell into neglect, and have been entirely lost. The
sovereigns of the Byzantine empire, except while it was ruled
by the Iconoclasts, felt that their power rested on the fabric of
the Roman administration, not on their own strength.
The collection of the edicts or 'novels' of Leo, inserted
in the editions of the Corpus Juris Civilis, has rendered the
legislation of Leo more generally known than his revised
edition of the Byzantine code. These edicts were published
for the purpose of modifying portions of the law, as pro-
mulgated in the Basilika. The greater number are addressed
to Stylianos, who is supposed to have been the father of Zoe,
Leo's second wife, and it is thought they were published
between the years 887 and 893, while Stylianos was master of
the offices and logothetes ^.
The military events of Leo's reig^ were marked by several
disgraceful defeats ; but the strength of the empire was not
* Georg. Mon. 559.
* ZachariM, Delineation 50. As a proof of the mental movement throughout
Europe, it may be observed that the legislation of Alfred iS" contemporary with
that of Leo VI. Christian society was moved by some impulses which operated
both in England and Constantinople.
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4.D. 886-91 2.]
seriously affected by the losses sustained, though the people
often suffered the severest misery. The Asiatic frontier was
generally defended with success. Nicephorus Phokas, who
had distinguished himself in Italy during the reign of Basil,
acquired additional glory by his activity as general of the
Thrakesian theme. The Saracens, nevertheless, continued to
make destructive inroads into the empire, as it was found
impossible to watch every point where they could assemble
an army. In the year 887, the town of Hysela in Charsiana
was taken, and its inhabitants carried away into slavery ^ In
888, Samos was plundered, and the governor, with many of
the inhabitants, made prisoner. In 893, the fortress of Koron
in Cappadocia was taken ^. In 901, reciprocal incursions were
made by the Christians and the Mohammedans, but the
Byzantine troops were more successful than the Saracen,
for they penetrated as far as the district of Aleppo, and
carried off fifteen thousand prisoners. This advantage was
compensated by the victories of the Saracen fleet, which took
and plundered the island of Lemnos^ The Saracen fleet
also, in the year 90^, took and destroyed the city of Demetrias
in Thessaly, where all the inhabitants who could not be car-
ried away, and sold with profit as slaves, were murdered*.
During these calamities, Leo, in imitation of his father, em-
ployed the resources of the state, which ought to have been
devoted to putting the naval forces of the empire in an
efficient condition, in building a new church, and in con-
structing a monastery for eunuchs *. Before the end of Leo's
^^ign, the isolated and independent position assumed by
several of the Saracen emirs on the frontier, enabled the
Byzantine generals to make some permanent conquests.
Melias, an Armenian who had distinguished himself in the
Bulgarian war, gained possession of the country between
Mount Amanus and the Euphrates, and this district was
formed into a new theme called Lykandos *. The Saracens
were also driven from the city of Theodosiopolis by Leo
* Contin. Leo, 3t8. * Symeon Mag. 462.
' Contin. 235 ; Symeon Mag. 463; Weil, ii. 492.
* Contin 224; Symeon Mag. 463; Cameniates, De Excidio Thessalonieen&i, 329.
* Georg. Mon 556; Symeon Mag. 463.
* Constant. Porphyr. De Adm, Imp. c. 50. p. 228, edit. Bonn ; De Thematibus,
p. 32, edit. Bonn.
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[Bk.II.Ch.l.§i.
Katakalon, and the Araxes was constituted the boundary of
the empire towards the Iberians ^.
The ruinous effects of the piratical system of warfare
pursued by the Saracen fleets, and the miseries inflicted on
thousands of Christian famih'es in the Byzantine empire,
deserve a record in the page of history. Fortunately we do
not require, in describing what really happened, to indulge
the imagination by painting what probably occurred, for time
has spared the narrative of one of the sufferers, in which the
author describes his own fate, and the calamities he witnessed,
with the minute exactitude of truth and pedantry. Many
severe blows were inflicted on the Byzantine empire by the
daring enterprises of the Mohammedans, who took advan-
tage of the neglected state of the imperial navy to plunder
the richest cities of Greece. But the most terrible catastrophe
the Christians suffered was the sack of Thessalonica, the second
city of the empire in population and wealth. Of this event
Joannes Cameniates, an ecclesiastic of the order of Readers,
and a native of the place, has left us a full account. He shared
all the dangers of the assault, and after the capture of his
native city he was carried prisoner to Tarsus, where he was
released from slavery by one of the exchanges of prisoners
which took place between the Christians and Saracens from
time to time in that city^
Thessalonica is situated at the head of an inner basin
terminating the long gulf stretching up to the northward,
between the snowy peaks and rugged mountains of Olympus
and Ossa to the west, and the nch shores of the Chalcidice
and the peninsula of Cassandra to the east. The bay, on
which the city looks down, affords a safe anchorage; and
in the tenth century an ancient mole enclosed an inner port
within its arms, where the largest vessels could land or receive
their cargoes as in a modem dock. This port bounded the
city on the south, and was separated from it by a wall about
a mile in length running along the shore. Within, the houses
rose gradually, until the upper part of the city was crowned
with an acropolis, separated from the hills behind by a
' Constant. Porphyr. De Adm. Imp. c. 45. p. aoi, edit. Bonn.
• Joannes Cameniates held the office of Kubuklesios or crozier-bearer to the
Archbishop of Thessalonica. His narrative is contained in the volume of the
Byzantine historians enUtled Scrip/ores post Theophamm,
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TAKING OF THESSALONICA. 267
A.D. 886-912.]
rugged precipice. This citadel is now called the Seven
Towers. Two ravines, running to the sea from the rocky
base of the acropolis, serve as ditches to the western and
eastern walls of the city, which to this day follow the same
line, and present nearly the same aspect as in the reign of
Leo the Philosopher. Their angles at the sea, where they
join the wall along the port, are strengthened by towers of
extraordinary size. The Egnatian Way, which for many
centuries served as the high-road for the communications
between Rome and Constantinople, formed a great street
passing in a straight line through the centre of the city from
its western to its eastern wall. This relic of Roman great-
ness, with its triumphal arches, still forms a marked feature
in the Turkish city; but the moles of the ancient port have
fallen to ruin, and the space between the sea-wall and the
water is disfigured by a collection of filthy huts. Yet the
admirable situation of Thessalonica, and the fertility of the
surrounding country, watered by several noble rivers, still
enables it to nourish a population of upwards of sixty thou-
sand souls. Nature has made it the capital and seaport of
a rich and extensive district, and under a good government
it could not fail to become one of the largest and most
flourishing cities on the shores of the Mediterranean ^.
Leo of Tripolis was the most active, daring, add skilful
of the Saracen admirals. He was born of Christian parents,
at Attalia in Pamphylia, but became a renegade, and settled
at Tripolis in Syria after he embraced the Mohammedan
faith. In the year 904, Leo sailed from Tarsus with a fleet
of fifty-four ships, each carrying two hundred men, besides
their officers and a few chosen troops. The ablest corsairs
in the East were assembled for this expedition, and a rumour
of the unusual care that was shown in fitting out the fleet
reached the court of the idle philosopher at Constantinople.
He foresaw that some daring attack on his dominions would
be made, and would fain have placed the imperial navy in a
* The population is said to have varied from 50,000 to 70,000 during the
present century. Cameniates mentions that upwards of 22,000 young men,
women, and children, selected either because they had wealthy relations to redeem
them, or strength and beauty to command a good price in the slave-market, were
carried away captive by the Saracens. Dt EMcidio Thessai, c. 73. p. 377. Sup-
posing that this was a tenth of the whole population— and when the state of
society is considered, it may be doubted whether it formed a greater portion—
the popuiation of The&alonica was then 220,000.
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26S BASILIAN DYNASTY,
[Bk II.Ch.I.§a.
condition to defend the islands and shores of the Aegean ; but
though the commerce of Greece could have supplied sailors to
man the largest force, the negligence and incapacity of the
admiralty had been so great, that several years of misfortune
were required to awaken the spirit necessary to restore the
Byzantine fleet to the condition from which it had fallen.
The naval force that was now sent to defend the empire did
not venture to encounter the Saracen fleet, but retired before
it, seeking shelter within the Hellespont, and leaving the whole
Archipelago unprotected. In the mean time fugitives reached
Constantinople, who reported that the enemy proposed to
attack Thessalonica.
The walls of Thessalonica had been originally of great
strength, but the fortifications were in a neglected state, and
the city was almost without a garrison of regular troops. The
sea-wall was in want of repair, and parts were so low that it
was not difficult to mount the battlements from the yards
of the ships in the port. On the land side the floors of the
towers that flanked the walls had in some places fallen into
such a state of decay, that the communications of the de-
fenders on the curtains were interrupted. The emperor, when
informed of the defenceless state of the place, increased the
confusion by his injudicious meddling. He sent a succession
of officers from the capital with diff*erent instructions, fresh
counsels, and new powers ; and, as usually happens in similar
cases, each of his deputies availed himself of his authority to
alter the plan of defence adopted by his predecessor. As
might be expected under such circumstances, the Saracens
arrived before the fortifications were repaired, and before the
arrangements for defence were completed.
The most alarming defect in the fortifications was the con-
dition of the wall towards the port. It was too low, without
the necessary towers to afford a flanking defence, and in
several places the depth of the water admitted ships to ap-
proach close to the quay that ran under its battlements.
Petronas, the first officer sent by the emperor, thinking that
there was not sufficient time to raise the wall or construct new
towers, adopted measures for preventing the approach of the
enemy's ships. To effect this, he transported to the port the
sculptured sarcophagi and immense blocks of marble that
then adorned the Hellenic tombs on both sides of the Egnatian
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AJ). 886-912.]
Way, without the western and eastern gates of the city, and
commenced laying them in the sea at some distance from
the quay. His object was to form a mole reaching within
a few feet of the surface of the water, against which the enemy
might run their ships, and leave them exposed, for some time,
to the missiles and Greek fire of the defenders of the city.
But the inhabitants of Thessalonica showed themselves insen-
sible of danger before it approached, and incapable of defend-
ing themselves when it arrived. Their whole confidence was
placed in St. Demetrius, who had never deceived them— not
in their emperor, whose armies and fleets were every day
defeated. They knew that Thessalonica had often repulsed
the attacks of the Sclavonians in the seventh and eighth cen-
turies ; they boasted that it had never been taken by pagans
or unbelievers ; and they believed that, whenever it had been
besieged, St. Demetrius had shown himself active in its de-
fence : it was therefore the universal opinion, that as patron
saint he would now defend a place in which he had a strong
personal interest; for in no other spot on earth was he
worshipped by so numerous, so wealthy, and so devoted a
community ^ The fate of Thessalonica proves the wisdom
of Leo III. in endeavouring to exterminate the worship of
images and saints.
Petronas had not made much progress with his work when he
was superseded by an officer named Leo, who was appointed
general of the theme of Thessalonica. Leo, finding that the
wall towards the port was not higher than the immense stern-
galleries of the ships then in use, ordered the undertaking of
Petronas to be suspended, and every nerve to be strained to
raise the wall. Reports became every day more alarming.
At one time it was announced that the Saracen fleet had
pursued the Byzantine admiral, Eustathios Argyros, up the
Hellespont as far as Parium. Afterwards it became certain
that it had quitted the Hellespont and reached Thasos. The
people of the city would not, however, shake off* their apathy
and their confidence in St. Demetrius. They showed little
aptitude for building or for military discipline ; the wall
advanced slowly, and the militia did not seem likely to fight
" J. Cameniates, De Excidio ThissaL c. 8. p. 324; Tafel, Di Th$ssalomea ejus-
fue Agro, proleg. Iviii, civ.
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[Bk.n.a.L§2.
bravely in defence of their country even should the wall be
completed. At this conjuncture a third officer arrived from
Constantinople, named Niketas. His arrival was of itself
sufficient to produce some disorder; but, imfortunately, an
accident that happened shortly after threw everything into
confusion. Leo and Niketas met on horseback to inspect the
defences of the city; the horse of Leo reared, threw his rider,
and injured his right thigh and side in such a manner that
his life was in danger, and for several days he was unable
to move. This accident invested Niketas with the chief
command.
Niketas seems to have had more military experience than
his predecessor, and he felt that the citizens of Thessalonica,
though they formed a numerous militia, were not to be
depended on for defending the place. He therefore en-
deavoured to assemble a body of troops accustomed to w^r,
by calling on the general of the theme of Strymon to send
some of the federate Sclavonians from his government ; but
the envy or negligence of the general, and the avarice and
ill-will of the Sclavonian leaders, prevented the arrival of any
assistance from that quarter. Though Niketas threatened to
report the misconduct of the general of Strymon to the
emperor, he could obtain no addition to the garrison, except
a few ill-equipped Sclavonian archers from the villages in the
plains near the city. The generals did not gain the good-
will of the inhabitants since they seemed all to place too
much confidence in human prudence ; the people preferred
relying on St. Demetrius and heaven. To secure the divine
aid, a solemn procession of all the clergy and citizens,
accompanied by every stranger residing in Thessalonica, and
headed by the archbishop and the civil and military authori-
ties, visited the church of St. Demetrius. Public prayers
were offered up day and night with great fervour; but long
after, when Joannes Cameniates recorded that the interven-
tion of St. Demetrius had proved unavailing, he acknowledged
that God permitted the destruction of Thessalonica to show
mankind that nothing renders the divine ear accessible to the
intercession of the saints but a pious life and good deeds.
The Saracens stopped a short time at Thasos to prepare
engines for hurling stones, and other machines used in si^es.
At last, as the inhabitants of Thejssalonica were leaving their
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AJ>. 886-913.]
houses at daybreak, to attend morning prayer, on Sunday the
29th of July 904, a rumour arose that the enemy was already
in the gulf, and only concealed from view by Cape Ekbolos.
The unwarlike city was filled with lamentations, tumult, and
alarm ; but the citizens enrolled in the militia armed them-
selves, amidst the tears of their wives and children, and
hastened to the battlements. The anxious crowd had not
long to wait before fifty-four ships were seen rounding the
cape in succession, with all sail set. The sea-breeze bore
them rapidly forward, and before noon they were at anchor
close to the city. The entrance of the port between the
moles was shut by a chain ; and to prevent this chain from
being broken by hostile ships impelled by the strong sea-
breezes of the summer months, several vessels had been sunk
across the mouth. Leo of Tripolis immediately reconnoitred
the fortifications, and examined the unfinished work of
Petronas, in order to ascertain if it were still practicable to
approach the wall beyond its junction with the mole. After
this examination was completed, a desultory attack was made
on the place to occupy the attention of the garrison, and
induce the besieged to show all their force and means of
defence.
Next day the Saracens landed and attacked the gate Roma,
which was situated in the eastern wall, and not far from the
sea. Seven of the engines constructed at Thasos were placed
in battery, and an attempt was made to plant scaling-ladders
against the fortifications, under cover of a shower of stones,
darts, and arrows; but a vigorous sally of the Byzantine
troops repulsed the assault and captured the ladders. In the
afternoon the plan of attack was changed. It was resolved to
force an entrance by burning down two of the four gates in
the eastern wall. The gate Roma and the gate Cassandra,
on the Egnatian Way, were selected. Waggons filled with
dry wood, pitch, and sulphur were covered over by fishing-
boats turned upside down, to prevent those on the wall from
setting fire to the combustibles at a distance. Sheltered by
these boats, the Saracen sailors pushed the waggons close to
the gates, and when they had lighted their fires, they escaped
to their companions with their shields over their heads, while
the rising flames, the stones from the ballistae, and the arrows
of the archers distracted the attention of the defenders of the
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272 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.a.r.§f.
wall. The iron plates on the doors were soon heated red-hot,
and, the door-posts being consumed, the gates fell ; but when
the fire burned low, an inner gateway was seen closed with
masonry, and well protected by flanking towers, so that the
Saracens gained nothing by the success of this project. But
the real object of the besiegers in all these preliminary
operations had only been to draw off the attention of the
Greeks from the point where most danger was to be appre-
hended. The second night of the siege was a sleepless one
for both parties. The inhabitants, seriously alarmed at the
daring courage and contempt of death displayed by the
assailants, deemed it necessary to keep up a strict watch
along the whole circuit of the fortifications, lest some un-
guarded spot should be found by the besiegers during the
darkness. On board the fleet an incessant noise of hammers,
and of Arabs and Ethiopians shouting, with a constant moving
of lights, proclaimed that active preparation was going on for
again renewing the attack.
When Leo of Tripolis reconnoitred the fortifications, he had
ascertained that his ships could approach the wall in several
places, and he had carefully marked the spots. The interval
hv^d been employed in getting everything ready for an attack
in this quarter, and now the night was devoted to complete
the work, in order that the besieged might remain in ignor-
ance of the design until the moment of its execution. It was
necessary to form stages, in which the assailants could over-
look the defenders of the place, and from which they could
descend on the wall. The project was executed with ability
and promptitude in a very simple manner. Two ships were
bound firmly together by cables and chains, and the long
yards of the immense lateen sails then in use were reversed, so
as to extend far beyond the bows of the double ship. These
yards were strong enough to support a framework of wood
capable of containing a small body of men, who were pro-
tected by boards on the sides from missiles, while shrouds
kept up a constant communication with the deck below.
These cages, when swung aloft from the yards, could be
elevated above the battlements where the sea-wall was lowest,
and to the besieged looked like the tops of towers suddenly
raised out of the sea. In the morning the double ships were
rowed into their positions, and the fight commenced between
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AJ>. 886-91 a.]
the besi^ers in their hanging towers and the defenders on the
ramparts. Stones, arrows, pots filled witib flaming combusti-
bles, anjl fire launched from long brazen tubes, the composi-
tion of which had been at an earlier period a secret known
only in the Byzantine arsenal, now came pouring down from
above on the Greeks, who were soon driven from the battle-
ments. The Ethiopians of the Alexandrian ships were the
first to make good their footing on the wall, and as soon as
they had cleared the whole line of the fortifications towards
the sea from its defenders, they broke open the gates, and the
crews of the other ships rushed into the city. The sailors em-
ployed to collect the booty entered with their drawn swords,
wearing only their trousers, in order that no plunder might
be abstracted secretly. The militia fled without a thought of
further resistance : the Sclavonians escaped from a gate in the
citadel, which they had secured as a means of retreat.
The Saracens divided themselves into bands, and com-
menced slaughtering every person they found in the streets,
though they encountered crowds of women and children, who
had rushed out of their houses to learn the cause of the
unusual commotion. A number of the inhabitants endea-
voured to escape by the Golden Gate, which formed the
entrance of the Egnatian Way into the city from the west,
but the crowd rendered it impossible to throw open the doors.
A party of Ethiopians came upon the people as they were
struggling to effect their purpose. Hundreds were crushed
to death or suffocated, and the blacks stabbed the rest,
without sparing age or sex. John Cameniates, his father, his
uncle, and two brothers, fled towards the wall that separates
the town from the citadel, intending to conceal themselves in
a tower until the first fury of the assailants was assuaged.
They had hardly ascended the wall when a band of Ethiopians
reached the place in pursuit of a crowd of people, whom they
murdered before the eyes of the terrified family. The Ethio-
pians then mounted the wall, but a tower was between them
and Cameniates, of which the floor was in such a ruinous
condition that it seemed dangerous to pass. As the enemy
paused, John Cameniates deemed the moment favourable to
implore mercy, and running quickly over a beam that
remained unbroken, he threw himself at the feet of the black
captain, promising that, he would reveal where a treasure was
VOL. n. 1:
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
274 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.I.§f.
hidden, in cstse his own life arid the lives of his relations were
spared. His confidence won the favour of the barbarians,
one of whom understood Greek, and the family was taken
under their protection ; yet as they were marching through
the streets, Cameniates received two wounds from an
Ethiopian belonging to artother band. On their way to the
port the prisoners were carried into the convent of Akroullios,
where they found the chief of the Ethiopians seated in the
vestibule. After hearing the promises of old Cameniates, he
rose and entered the church, in which about three hundred
Christians had been collected. There, seating himself cross-
legged on the altar, he made a signal to his followers, who
immediately put all to death, leaving only the family of
Cameniates. From this hideous spectacle they were con-
ducted to the Saracen admiral.
After Leo of Tripolis had heard what Cameniates had to
say, he sent a guard to convey the treasure to the port.
Fortunately the hoard, which contained all the wealth of many
members of the family, was found untouched, for had it not
satisfied the avarice of the chiefs, the whole family would
have been murdered, as happened in many other cases. This
treasure was received by Leo only as a ransom for the lives of
his prisoners, who were embarked in order to be exchanged
at Tarsus for Saracens in captivity among the Christians.
Cameniates found Leo, the general of the theme of Thessa-
lonica, Niketas, the third envoy of the emperor, and Rodo-
phyles, a eunuch of the imperial household, who had stopped
as he was conveying a hundred pounds' weight of gold to the
Byzantine army in Italy, all among the prisoners. Rodophyles
was brought before the Saracen admiral, who had learned from
the captives that he was intrusted with treasure. The eunuch
boldly replied that he had performed his duty to the emperor,
by sending away the gold to the general of the theme of
Strymon as soon as the enemy approached ; and when Leo of
Tripolis found that this was true, he flew into a passion, and
ordered Rodophyles to be beaten to death on the spot\
* Cameniates calls the sum intrusted to Rodophyles two talents, by which he
of course means centners ; other authors call it only one hundred pounds. Contin.
Z,w, 226; Symeon Mag. 466; Geoi^. Mon. 558; Leo Gramm. 482. ConcemioF
the variety of weight in ancient talents, see Hussey, Essay on Ancient WeigJus antf
Money, 28-42.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
TAKING OF THESSALONICA. 275
AD.886-912.]
Several days were spent in coHecting the booty in the city^
in releasing such of the captives as had friends in the neigh-
bourhood able to purchase their liberty by the payment of
a second ransom, and in n^otiating the exchange of two
hundred persons, for whom an officer of the emperor named
Simeon engaged that an equal number of Saracen captives
should be delivered up at Tarsus, When all other business
was settled, the Saracens threatened to bum the city, and
succeeded in forcing the general of Strymon to deliver up the
gold for which Rodophyles had lost his life, in order to save
the place from destruction. The hostile fleet quitted the
harbour of Thessalonica ten days after the capture of the city.
Cameniates was embarked in the ship of the Egyptian admiral,
who served under Leo of Tripolis. The crew consisted of two
hundred men and eight hundred captives ; men, women, and
children were crowded together on the lower deck. These
unfortunate people, all of whom were of the higher ranks,
suffered indescribable misery, and many died of hunger, thirst,
and suffocation before they reached the island of Crete, where,
after a fortnight's confinement, they were allowed to land for
the first time. The fleet had deviated from its course in order
to avoid falling in with the Byzantine squadron, for it was im-
possible to fight when every ship was crowded with prisoners.
It had therefore remained six days at Patmos, and two at
Naxos, which was then tributary to the Saracens of Crete.
The fleet anchored at Zontarion, a port opposite the island
of Dia, which afforded better shelter than the harbour of
Chandax, and where it could obtain the seclusion necessary
for dividing the slaves and spoil among the different parties
composing the expedition, in order that each might hasten
home before the autumnal storms commenced. The whole of
the captives were landed, and three days were spent in en-
deavouring to find their relations, and unite families that had
been dispersed, many of which were again separated by the
new division. As not only the fifty-four ships of Leo's fleet,
but also several Byzantine men-of-war and merchantmen,
taken in the port of Thessalonica, had been filled with
prisoners, it is not surprising that the number, even after the
loss sustained on the passage, still amounted to twenty-two
thousand souls. Of these, with the exception of the small
number reserved for exchange at Tarsus, all consisted of
T 7,
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276 BASIUAN DYNASTY,
[Bk.n.Ch,I.§J.
young men -and women in the flower of their youth, or
children remarkable for the bloom of their beauty : they had
been saved from the slaughter of the older inhabitants, or
selected from those seized in the houses, because they were
sure of commanding a high price in the slave-markets of the
East When all the booty had been landed, the spoil was
divided by lot, and then the fleet dispersed, the ships sailing
from Crete directly to Alexandria, or to the different ports of
Syria to which they belonged. Many of the unfortunate
prisoners, exposed to sale in the slave-markets of Fostat, the
capital of Egypt, and Damascus, were transported to Ethiopia
and Arabia, and even to the southern parts of Africa; the
more fortunate were re-purchased from those to whose diare
they had fallen, by the Cretans, and by them re-sold to their
friends.
The island of Crete had become a great slave-mart, in
consequence of the extensive piracies of its Saracen popula-
tion ; and at this time the slave-trade was the most profitable
branch of commerce in the Mediterranean ^ ! A lai^e portion
of the Greek inhabitants of Crete having embraced Moham-
medanism, and established communications with the Christian
slave-merchants in the By:5antine empire, carried on a regular
trade in purchasing Byzantine captives of wealthy families,
and arranging exchanges of prisoners with their relations.
As these exchanges were private speculations^ and not, like
those at Tarsus, under the r^ulation of an official cartel, the
Christians were generally compelled to pay a considerable sum
as redemption-money, in order to deliver their relatives, in
addition to releasing a Saracen captive. After the buying
and selling of the captives from Thessalonica had been carried
on for several days, the Saracens embarked their prisoners for
their ultimate destination. The wife of one of the brothers of
Cameniates was purchased by a Cretan slave-merchant, but he
had the misery of seeing his mother, his wife, and two of his
children (for the third had died during the voyage) embarked
in a ship belonging to Sidon- Cameniates, with his father, and
the greater part of the captives set apart for the exchange at
* The prevalence of piracy on the coast of Attica, about the end of the twelfth
century, after the Saracens had been long expelled from the Grecian seas, is
proved by the Memorial of the Athenians to the £lmperor Alexios III., a.d. 1195-
iao3, drawn up by their archbishop, Michael Akominatos. Tafel, TJutsalomfat
p. 46^ where mention is made of n^ KnjKaoiai' tw SoKarriuif KyarSm.
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TAKING OF THESSALONICA. 277
A.D. 886-912.]
Tarsus, were put on board a Byzantine man-of-war, the upper
deck of which was occupied by the Saracens, while the Chris-
tians were crowded on the lower, in filth and darkness.
On the passage from Crete to Syria, an event happened
which shows that Leo, the Saracen admiral, was a man of
energy and courage, well fitted for his daring occupation, and
by no means so deaf to the calls of humanity, in the hour of
the most terrific danger, as his ferocious conduct after the
taking of Thessalonica might lead us to believe. A violent
storm threatened one of the smaller galleys with destruction,
for it broke in the middle — an accident to which ancient ships,
from their extreme length and want of beam, were very liable.
The Saracens on board were near the admiral's ship and that
in which Cameniates was embarked, and they requested Leo
to order the crew of the Byzantine man-of-war to throw all
the captives overboard and receive them. The order was
given, allowing the crew to quit the sinking ship, but the
violence of the wind had driven the ship in which Cameniates
was embarked to such a distance that the signals of the
admiral were unnoticed or unheeded. Leo, however, ordered
his own ship to be brought as near the galley as possible, and
succeeded in saving, not only the Saracen crew, but every
Christian on board, though the crews and captives of the two
vessels amounted to upwards of one thousand persons. The
Byzantine generals, Leo and Niketas, who were on board
Leo's ship, recounted the circumstances to Cameniates, and
declared that their ship was ill-calculated to contain so great
a crowd, and was navigated with great difficulty. After refitting
at Cyprus, the squadron reached Tripolis on the 14th of
September. The father of Cameniates died there, before the
prisoners were removed to Tarsus. While waiting at Tarsus,
in fear of death from the unhealthiness of the place, Came-
niates wrote the account of his sufferings, from which the
preceding narrative has been extracted ; and we must pardon
what he calls the feebleness, but what others are more likely
to term the inflation of his style, on account of the interesting
matter embalmed in its verbosity. The worthy Anagnostes
appears to have returned to his native city, and obtained the
office of koubouklesios to the archbishop.
The taking of Thessalonica affords sad proof of the in-
efficiency of central governments, which deny the use of arms
Digitized by VjUOQ IC
278 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk,U.Ch.I.§J.
to the people, to defend the wealthy and unfortified cities of
an extensive empire. The tendency of a court to exi>end the
revenues of the state on the pageantry of power, on palaces,
churches, and fites in the capital, without bestowing a thought
on the destruction of a village or the loss of a parish, reveals
to us one of the paths by which despotic power invariably
tends to degrade the mass of human civilization, and cause
a decline in the population of its territory.
The wealth the Saracens had obtained at lliessalonica
invited them to make fresh attacks on the empire, until at
last the public sufferings compelled the Empercw: Leo, in the
last year of his reign, to make a vigorous attempt to put an
end to the piracies of the Cretans, a.d. 912. Himerios, who
had gained a naval victory over the Saracens in the year 909,
was intrusted with the command of a powerful fleet, and com-
menced his operations by clearing the Archipelago of the
Cretan pirates. His fleet consisted of forty dromons or war-
galleys of the largest size, besides other vessels ; and it was
manned by twelve thousand native sailors, besides seven
hundred Russians, who are considered worthy of especial
enumeration. A powerful army, under the orders of Romanus
the future emperor, was assembled at Samos for the purpose
of besieging Chandax ; but after eight months of insignificant
demonstrations, the expedition was defeated with great loss
by the Saracens, under the command of Leo of Tripolis and
Damian, off the Coast of Samos. HJmerios escaped with
difficulty to Mitylene, but Romanus saved the remains of the
imperial forced
In southern Italy, everything was in such a state of con-
fusion that it is Jiot worth while following the political
changes it suffered. The Dukes of Naples, Gaeta, Salerno,
and Amalfi were at times the willing subjects of the Byzan-
tine emperor, and at times their personal ambition induced
them to form alliances with the Saracens of Africa and Sicily,
* Constantine Porphyrqgenitus gives a cunous account of the forces that com-
posed this expedition. Dt Catremon. Aulae Byzant. i. 651, edit. Bonn; Contin.
232 ; Symeon Mag. 470. The imperial fleet in the Aegean Sea amounted usoally
to sixty dromons, of which seven were furnished by the islands of the Archipelago,
ten by Samos and the islands depending on it, and ten by the continent of Greece ;
the rest were furnished from the coasts of Macedonia, Thrace, and Asia Minor.
A dromon, complete for active service, carried two hundred and thirty rowers and
sailors, and seventy soldiers or marines.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
BYZANTINE AFFAIRS IN ITALY. ^79
AJ>. 886-91 3.]
or with the Pope and the Romans, to cany on war with
the Byzantine generals of the theme of Longobardia (Apulia).
The Italian population, as in ancient times, consisted of many
nations living under different laws and usages, so that only
a powerful central government, or a system of political equality,
could preserve order in the discordant elements. The state
of civilization rendered the first difficult, the second impos-
sible. The popes were always striving to increase their
power, allying themselves alternately with the Franks and
the Byzantines; the native Italian population in the cities
was struggling for municipal independence ; a powerful aris-
tocracy, of Germanic origin, <was contending for power ; the
Byzantine authorities were toiling to secure an increase of
revenue, and the whole peninsula was exposed to the plunder-
ing incursions of the Hungarians and the Saracens. In this
scene of confusion the Emperor Leo was suddenly compelled
to take an active part by the loss of Bari, which was seized
by the Duke of Beneventum. A Byzantine army regained
possession of the city, and revenged the injury by taking
Beneventum, which, however, only remained in possession of
the imperial troops for four years. The Byzantine fleet in
Italy was subsequently defeated by the Sicilian Saracens
in the Straits of Messina. In short, the administration of
Leo the Philosopher in Italy was marked by his usual negli-
gence and incapacity, and the weakness of his enemies alone
preserved the Byzantine possessions.
The kingdom of Bulgaria had for a considerable period
proved a quiet neighbour and useful ally. It formed a barrier
against the Turkish tribes, whom the ruin of the Khazar
empire drove into Europe. Leo, however, allowed himself
to be involved in hostilities with the Bulgarians by the
avarice of his ministers. Stylianos, the father of his second
wife Zoe, established a monopoly of the Bulgarian trade in
favour of two Greek merchants. To conceal the extortions
to which this monopoly gave rise, the dep6t of Bulgarian
commerce was removed from Constantinople to Thessalo-
nica \ The Bulgarians, whose interest suffered by this fraud,
' At this time Thcophano, the first wife of Leo, was still living, and Zoe was
only the emperor's concubine. Stylianos, who is supposed to be the same to
whom the Novellae of Leo are addressed, is called Zaoutzes by the Continuator
(JK)). The name is connected with the Turkish Tshaous. See Tfcuwaioi in
Ducange, Glossarium mtd, it, inf. GraeeitaHs,
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
a8o BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.L §2.
applied to their King Simeon for protection ; and when the
Emperor Leo, after repeated solidtations, took no steps to
redress the injustice, the Bulgarian monarch declared war.
An almost uninterrupted peace of seventy-four years had
existed . between the sovereigns of Constantinople and Bul-
garia, for only temporary and trifling hostilities had occurred
since the treaty between Leo V. and Mortagan in 814.
Bogoris — called, after his baptism, Michael — ^had governed
his kingdom with g^eat prudence, and not only converted
all his subjects to Christianity, but also augmented their
means of education and wellbeing. His own religious views
induced him to join the Eastern church, and he sent his
second son Simeon to Constantinople for his education.
Bogoris retired into a monastery, and left the throne to
his eldest son Vladimir, about the year 885. The disorderly
conduct of Vladimir drew his father from his retreat, who
was compelled to dethrone and put out the eyes of this un-
worthy prince, before immuring him in a monastery. He
then placed his second son Simeon on the throne (a.d. 888),
and retiring again to his cell, died a monk, A.D. 907.
Simeon proved an able and active monarch. His educa-
tion at Constantinople had enlarged his mind, but inspired
him with some contempt for the meanness and luxury of the
Byzantine court, and for the pedantry and presumption of the
Greek people. He was himself both a warrior and a scholar,
but he followed the military system of the Bulgarians, and
wrote in his native language^. The Bulgarian nation had
now attained the position occupied some centuries before by
the Avars. They were the most civilized and commercial
of all the northern barbarians, and formed the medium for
supplying the greater part of Germany and Scandinavia with
the necessary commodities from Asia, and with Byzantine
manufactures and gold ^. This extensive and flourishing trade
had gone on increasing ever since a treaty, fixing the amount
of duties to be levied on the Byzantine frontier, had been
concluded in the year 716, during the reign of Theodosius
in. The stipulations of that treaty had always formed the
basis on which the commercial relations between the two
^ I follow Schafarik, Slawischi Alttr^mnur (ii. 185), in preferenoe to Ducange,
TnntilitM ByzanHnat.
■ Thcophylactus Simocatta says, \4yrrai ydp h roh iBvwi roik %in/0tMOit rb rmv
*Kfi6fot¥ im^ai ivrp€xi<rrarw ^vAov, 175; Theoph. 431.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
BULGARIAN WAR. 281
Aj). 886-9 1 a.]
States had been re-established, at the conclusion of every war ;
but now two Greek merchants, Staurakios and Kosmas, bribed
Mousikos, a eunuch in the household of Stylianos, to procure
an imperial ordinance for transferring the whole of the Bulga-
rian trade to Thessalonica. These Greeks having farmed the
customs, felt that they could carry on extortions at a distance
which could not be attempted as long as the traders brought
their goods to Constantinople and were under the immediate
protection of the central administration ^ The monopoly,
though it inflicted great losses both on the Greek and Bul-
garian traders, was supported by the favourite minister of the
emperor, who refused to pay any attention to the reclamations
of the Bulgarian government in favour of its subjects. Simeon,
who was not of a disposition to submit to contemptuous treat-
ment, finding that he had no hope of obtaining redress by
peaceable means, invaded the empire. The Byzantine army
was completely defeated, and the two generals who com-
manded it were slain in the first battle. But Simeon tarnished
his glory by his cruelty; he ordered the noses of all the
prisoners to be cut off, and sent the Byzantine soldiers, thus
mutilated, to Constantinople. Leo, to revenge this barbarity,
sent a patrician, Niketas Skleros, to urge the Hungarians, a
Turkish tribe which had recently quitted the banks of the Don
and occupied the country still possessed by their descendants,
to attack the Bulgarians. They did so, defeated them, and
sold their prisoners to the Emperor Leo, who was compelled,
shortly after, to deliver them to Simeon, King of Bulgaria,
without ransom, in order to purchase peace ; for the Magyars
were defeated in a second battle, and retired from the contest.
Leo, like many absolute sovereigns, had conceived too high an
idea of his power and prerogatives to pay any respect to his
engagements, when he thought it for his advantage to forget
his promises. He took the earliest opportunity of seeking
for revenge, and having assembled what he supposed was an
invincible army, he sent Leo Katakalon, his best general, to
invade Bulgaria. This army was completely destroyed at a
place called Bulgarophygos, and after this lesson Leo was
glad to conclude peace, A.D. 893^.
* Contin. LtOy aao.
* There is some difficulty in arranging the chronology of the Bulgarian war.
Symeon Mag. 462.
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a8a BASIUAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.l.$3.
About the same time the oppressive conduct of the imperial
governor at Cherson caused an insurrection of the inhabitants,
in which he was murdered.
Leo, in spite of his title of *the Philosopher,' was not a
man in whose personal history mankind can feel much interest
Though his reign was undisturbed by rebellion or civil war, his
life was exposed to frequent dangers. His concubine Zoe
discovered a conspiracy against him, and another was revealed
by the renegade Samonas, and became the origin of his great
favour at court. The prime conspirator was scourged and
exiled to Athens. In 902, an attempt was made to murder
Leo in the church of St. Mokios by a madman, who was
armed only with a stick. The blow was broken by the
branch of a chandelier, yet the emperor received a severe
wound \
Leo died in the year 91a, after a reign of twenty-five years
and eight months.
Sect. IIL — Alexander — Minority of Constantine VIL {Par-
phyrogenitus) — Romanus /. {Lecapenus\ A.D. 9I2-944'
Reign of Alexander, a.d. 912-913. — Minority of Constantine VII^ 9i3-9aa—
Sedition of Constantine Dukas.— Byzantine sumy defeated by Simeon, King
of Bulgaria. — Intrigues at Constantinople. — Romanus L makes himself em-
peror, A.D. 920-944. — Conspiracies against his government. — Dethroned by
his son Stephen.
Alexander, who succeeded to the throne, or rather to the
government of the empire, on the death of his brother Leo (for
he had long borne tlie title of Emperor), was as degraded in
his tastes, and more unfit for his station, than Michael the
Drunkard. Fortunately for his subjects, he reigned only a
year; yet he found time to inflict on the empire a serious
wound, by rejecting the offer of Simeon, King of Bulgaria, to
renew the treaty concluded with Leo. Alexander, like his
predecessor, had a taste for astrology; and among his other
follies he was persuaded that an ancient bronze statue of
a boar in the Agora was his own genius. This work of art
was consequently treated with the greatest reverence ; it was
adorned with new tusks and other ornaments, and its reinte-
gration in the hippodrome was celebrated as a public festival,
' Contin. Leo^ 2 a a, 224, 225.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
ALEXANDER. 283
AJ). 91 2-944.]
not only with profane games, but even with religious cere-
monies, to the scandal of the orthodox *.
Leo VI. undermined the Byzantine system of administra-
tion. He used his absolute power to confer offices of the
highest trust on the court favourites notoriously incapable of
performing the duties intrusted to them. The systematic
rules of promotion in the service of the government; the
administrative usages which were consecrated into laws ; the
professional education which had preserved the science of
government from degenerating with the literature and lan-
guage of the empire, were for the first time habitually
neglected and violated. The administration and the court
were confounded in the same mass, and an emperor, called
the Philosopher, is characterised in history for having reduced
the Eastern Empire to the degraded condition of an arbitrary
despotism, Alexander carried this abuse to a greater extent,
by conferring high commands on the companions of his
debaucheries, and by elevating men of Sclavonian and Saracen
origin to the highest dignities.
The onlyjact of Alexander's reign that it is necessary to
particularize, is the nomination of a regency to act during the
minority of his nephew Constantine. The Patriarch Nikolaos,
who had been reinstated in office, was made one of its mem-
bers ; but Zoe Carbunopsina, the young emperor's mother,
was excluded from it.
Constantine VII. was only seven years old when he became
sole emperor. The regency named by Alexander consisted
of six members exclusive of the Patriarch, two of whom,
named Basilitzes and Gabrielopulos, were Sclavonians, who
had attained the highest employments and accumulated great
wealth by the favour of Alexander^. The facility with which
foreigners obtained the highest offices at Constantinople, and
the rare occurrence of any man of pure Hellenic race in power,
* Contin. 234 : troix^ov o.^o%i^ — olSom «al Mvrat ry xoW vpoffavty^waiy, [The
word 9T<Hx^ot't which is here translated * genius,* originally signified 'element/
and was applied by the Platonists to the spirits which were believed to exist in
the earth, air, fire, and water ; hence it passed into an appellation for demons
in general. Amongst the modem -Greeks the domestic genius is generally supposed
to assume the form of a snake, like the ' guardian serpent ' m the houses of the
ancient Greeks and Romans. The modem Greek expression for ' bewitched ' or
'enchanted * is OToix<«A>M^ot. En.]
* CoQtm. 333.
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a84 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.U.Ch.L§3.
is a feature of the Byzantine government that requires to be
constantly borne in mind, as it is a proof of the tenacity with
which the empire clung to Roman traditions, and repudiated
an identification with Greek nationality.
It is difficult, in the period now before us, to select facts
that convey a correct impression of the condition, both of
the government and the people. The calamities and crimes
we are compelled to mention tend to create an opinion that
the government was worse, and the condition of the inha-
bitants of the empire more miserable, than was really the case.
The ravages of war and the incursions of pirates wasted only
a small portion of the Byzantine territory, and ample time was
afforded in most districts by the long intervals of tranquillity
to repair the depopulation and desolation caused by foreign
enemies. The central government still retained institutions
that enabled it to encounter many political storms that ruined
neighbouring nations ; yet the weakness of the administration,
the vices of the court, and the corruption of the people, during
the reigns of Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his father-
in-law Romanus I., seemed to indicate a rapid decay in the
strength of the empire, and they form a heterogeneous com-
bination with the institutions which still guaranteed security
for life and property to an extent unknown in every other
portion of the world, whether under Christian or Moham-
medan sway. The merits and defects of the Byzantine
government are not found co-existent in any other portion of
history, until we approach modem times.
Hereditary succession was never firmly established in the
Byzantine empire^. The system of centralization rendered the
prime-minister, who carried on the administration for a minor
or a weak sovereign, virtually master of the empire. Against
this danger Alexander had endeavoured to protect his nephew,
by creating a regency of six members, no one of whom could
' [It is to be remarked, however, that the idea of legitimacy in succession was
originated and systematized by the Basilian emperors, and that this was the cause
of the long duration of their dynasty. It was with a view to this that Basil I.
established the custom that his descendants should be bom in the Porphyry
chamber, so that the name Porphyrogenitus mi^ht become a title of Intimacy.
The growth of the idea was shown by the way m which the people regarded Con-
stantine Porphyrogenitus, and still more forcibly a century later, by the loyalty
shown towaros the Empress Zoe, an aged, proffigate, and incapable woman, on
account of the legitimacy of her descent. See Rambaud, VEmpirt grtc cm dixiem
SthUi, pp. 34, 36. Ed.]
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INSURRECTION OF CONSTANTINE DUKAS. 285
Aj>.9Ti-944.]
aspire at becoming the colleague of young Constantine. But
the arbitrary nature of the imperial power created a feeling of
insecurity in the minds of officials, as long as the supreme power
was not vested in a single individual. This feeling inspired
every man of influence with the hope of being able to render
himself sole r^ent, and with the desire of assuming the title
of Emperor, as the only method of permanently maintaining
the post of guardian of the young prince. The most popular
man of the time was Constantine Dukas, who had fled to the
Saracens with his father Andronikos, in order to escape the
anger of Leo VI. His father had embraced Mohammedanism,
but Dukas had thrown himself on the mercy of Leo rather
than forsake his religion, and had been rewarded by a com-
mand on the south-eastern frontier. For three years he served
with distinction, and his valour and liberality rendered him
popular among the soldiers. The death of Alexander found
him commanding a division of the Byzantine army in Asia
Minor, with the rank of general of the imperial guard ; and a
party of the officers of the state, knowing his ambition, fixed their
eyes on him as the man most likely to overthrow the regency.
Even the Patriarch Nikolaos was privy to the schemes of
those who urged Dukas to repair secretly to Constantinople,
for this ambitious ecclesiastic expected to exercise more
authority over a young man possessing absolute power, than
over six wary statesmen experienced in every department of
public business.
As soon as Dukas reached the capital, he was proclaimed
emperor by his partisans, who had already prepared the
troops and the people for a change ; and he marched immedi-
ately to the palace of Chalke, where the young emperor
resided, and of which he expected to gain possession without
difficulty. His attack was so sudden that he rendered himself
master of the outer court ; but the alarm was soon given, and
all the entries into the palace were instantly closed. John
Eladas, one of the members of the regency, assumed the
command of the guards on duty, and a furious battle was
fought in the court. The rebels were repulsed, and the horse
of Dukas slipping on the flags of the pavement, he was slain.
Three thousand men are said to have fallen in this short
tumult, in which both parties displayed the most daring
courage. The conspirators who fell were more fortunate than
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286 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch.LI3,
those who were taken by the regemy, for these latter were
put to death with inhuman cruelty; and the Patriarch was
justly censured for the apathy he showed when men were
tortured, of whose plots he had been cognizant^. Several
persons of high rank were beheaded, and some were hung on
the Asiatic shore opposite the imperial palace. The wife of
Constantine Dukas was compelled to take the veil, and
banished to her property in Paphlagonia, where she founded
a monastery. Stephen, her only surviving son, was made
a eunuch, and every other male of the noble house of Dukas
perished on this occasion. The family that afterwards bore
the name, and ascended the throne of Constantinople, was of
more modem origin *.
The affection of the young emperor for his mother, and the
intrigues of the different members of the ri^ency, who expected
to increase their influence by her favour, reinstated Zoe Car-
bunopsina in the palace, from which she had been expelled by
Alexander. As she had received the imperial crown, she
shared the sovereign authority with the r^ents as a matter of
right, and through the influence of John Eladas, she soon
became the absolute mistress of the public a-dministration.
Zoe thought of little but luxury and amusement. Her ad-
ministration was unfortunate, and a complete defeat of the
Byzantine anny by the Bulgarians created a general feeling
that the direction of public affairs ought no longer to be
intrusted to a woman of her thoughtless disposition.
The evils inflicted on the inhabitants of Thrace by Simeon,
king of Bulgaria, after his rupture with Alexander, equalled
the sufferings of the empire during the earlier incursions of the
Huns and Avars. In the year 913, shortly after Alexander's
death, Simeon marched up to the walls of Constantinople
almost without opposition; but he found the city too well
garrisoned to admit of his remaining long in its vicinity: he
retired, after an ineffectual attempt to settle the terms of
a treaty in a conference with the Patriarch. In 914 he again
invaded the empire, and in this campaign Adrianople was
betrayed into his hands by its governor, an Armenian named
Pankratakas, who, however, as soon as the Bulgarians retired,
restored it to the Byzantine government.
* Zonaras, ii. 184.
' Zonaras, ii. 37a ; Leo Ckamm. 492 ; Ducange, Fcm, Byx, 160.
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THE PATZINAKS. %%^
AJ). 91 a -944.]
A Turkish tribe, called by the Byzantine writers Patzinaks,
who contributed to destroy the flourishing monarchy of the
Khazars, had driven the Magyars or Hungarians before them
into Europe, and at this period had extended their settle-
ments from the shores of the Sea of Azof and the falls of the
Dnieper to the banks of the Danube. They were thus neigh-
bours of the Russians and the Bulgarians, as well as of the
Byzantine province of Cherson^. They were nomades, and
inferior in civilization to the nations in their vicinity, by whom
they were dreaded as active and insatiable plunderers, always
ready for war and eager for rapine. The regency of the
Empress Zoe, in order to give the people of Thrace some
respite from the ravages of the Bulgarians, concluded an
alliance with the Patzinaks, who engaged, on receiving a sum
of money, to act in co-operation with the imperial forces.
They engaged to attack the Bulgarians in the rear, on being
furnished with the means of crossing the Danube by the
Byzantine government. Zoe, in the mean time, trusting to
n^otiations she was carrying on at Bagdad for securing
tranquillity in Asia Minor, transferred the greater part of the
Asiatic army to Europe, and prepared to carry the war into
the heart of Bulgaria. A splendid army was reviewed at
Constantinople, and placed under the command of Leo
Phokas, a man possessing great influence with the aristocracy,
and a high military reputation. Before the troops marched
northward they received new arms and equipments ; liberal
advances of pay were made to the soldiers, and numerous
promotions were made among the officers. The second in
command was Constantine the Libyan, one of the conspirators
in the plot of Dukas, who had escaped the search of the
regency until he obtained the pardon of Zoe's government.
The fleet appointed to enter the mouth of the Danube, in
order to transport the Patzinaks over the river, was placed
under the command of Romanus the grand admiral.
Leo Phokas pressed forward, confident of success ; but
Romanus felt no inclination to assist the operation of one
whom a successful campaign would render the master of the
» The Patzinaks are called also Petchenejg;s. The Magyars are called Turks by
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in his curious work, Z)# Administrando Imptrio,
<:. 4, 5. The Patzinaks, Magyars. Uzes and Kumans. who all made their first
appearance in Europe about this time, were Turkish tribes.
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a88 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.ILCh.I.$5.
empire. He is accused of throwing impediments in the way
of the Patzinaks, and delaying to transport them over the
Danube at the time and place most likely to derange the
operations of the Bulgarians. The conduct of Leo was rash,
that of Romanus treacherous. Simeon was enabled to con-
centrate all his forces and fight a battle at a place called
Achelous, in which the Byzantine army was defeated, with an
immense loss both in officers and men^ (Mth August 91 7).
Leo escaped to Mesembria, where he attempted to rally the
fugitives ; but Romanus, as soon as he heard of the disaster,
sailed directly to Constantinople without attempting to make
any diversion for the relief of his countrymen, or endeavour-
ing to succour the defeated troops as -he passed Mesembria.
He was accused of treason on his return, and condemned to
lose his sight ; but he retained possession of the fleet by the
support of the sailors ; and the empress, who began to
perceive her unpopularity, countenanced his disobedience, as
she expected to make use of his support.
The partisans of Leo openly urged his claims to be placed
at the head of the administration, as the only man capable by
his talents of preventing a revolution ; and the chamberlain
Constantine urged Zoe to appoint him a member of the
regency, and invest him with the conduct of public afiairs.
The empress b^an to distrust Romanus, from the pre-
ponderating power he possessed as long as the fleet remained
in the vicinity of the capital. The fleet was therrfore ordered
into the Black Sea; but Romanus had already received
secret encouragement to oppose the designs of Leo from
Theodore, the governor of the young emperor, and he delayed
sailing, under the pretext that the sailors would not put to
sea until their arrears were paid. The crisis was important ;
so the chamberlain Constantine visited the fleet with the
money necessary for paying the sailors, determined to hasten
* Achelous seems to have been the name of both a river and fortress m Bul-
garia. River : — Contin. 340 ; Symeon Mag. 476 ; Geor^. Mon. 569 ; Leo Gramm.
491. Fortress: — Cedrenus, 613; see Krug. Chronologts dtr Byz. 130, noff. The
defeat took place near Anchialus. Leo Diaconus, 124, edit. Bonn. The name
Achelous seems to have misled Gibbon into a singular complicatioD of errors.
His words are, * On classic ground, on the banks of the Acnelous, the Greeks
were defeated : their horn was broken by the strength of the barbaric*Hercules.'
He transports the battle into Greece, calls the .^liatic troops of Leo Phokas
Greeks ; and grows more poetical than Ovid, whom he quotes. Dtduu and FaU^
vii. 68.
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INTRIGUES OF ROMANUS. 289
Aj>,9ij-944.]
its departure, and perhaps to arrest the grand admiral. This
step brought matters to an issue. Romanus seized the money
and paid the sailors himself, keeping the chamberlain under
arrest. This daring conduct on the part of a man hitherto
considered as deficient in ambition as well as capacity, spread
alarm in the palace, for it revealed to the empress that there
was another pretender to supreme power. Zoe immediately
despatched the Patriarch Nikolaos, and some of the principal
officers of state, to induce the sailors to return to their
allegiance ; but the populace, eager for change, and delighted
to see the government in a state of embarrassment, attacked
the envoys with stones, and drove them back into the palace.
The empress, at a loss what measures to adopt, vainly sought
for information concerning the causes of this sudden revolu-
tion. At last Theodore, the young emperor's governor,
declared that the conduct of Leo Phokas and the chamber-
lain Constantine had caused the popular dissatisfaction, for
Leo had ruined the army and Constantine had corrupted the
administration. He suggested that the easiest mode of
putting an end to the existing embarrassments would be for
the young Emperor Constantine to assume the supreme
power into his own hands. This was done, and the young
prince, or rather his tutor Theodore in his name, invited the
Patriarch and one of the regents named Stephen to consult
on the measures to be adopted, though both were known to
be hostile to his mother's administration. This produced an
immediate revolution at court. The principal officers of state
attached to the party of Phokas were dismissed from their
employments, which were conferred on men pledged to
support the new advisers of the young emperor. Leo, not
knowing that Romanus was secretly connected with the new
administration, proposed a coalition, but received from that
wary intriguer only assurances of friendship and support.
Romanus, however, was soon informed by his friend Theodore
that the Patriarch and Stephen had resolved to remove him
from his command, that they might render him as harmless
as Leo : bold measures were therefore necessary, and with-
out hesitation the admiral ranged his fleet in hostile array
under the walls of the palace Bukoleon. His friends
within, under the direction of the patrician Niketas, invited
him to enter and protect the young emperor, and at the same
VOL.il U k i^i^i>M^
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290 BASIUAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.a.I.§3.
time forced the Patriarch and Stephen to retire^. The
Emperor Constantine had been already predisposed in favour
of Romanus by his tutor, so that he received the insurgent
admiral in a friendly manner. The young prince, accom-
panied by the court, repaired to the chapel in Pharo, where
Romanus took an oath of fidelity on the wood of the true
cross, and was invested with the offices of grand master and
grand heteriarch, or general of the foreign guards, on the ajth
of March 919 ^.
Before a month elapsed, the fortunes of Romanus were
further advanced by the charms of his daughter Helena,
Constantine VIL became deeply smitten with her beauty,
and the ambition of the father precipitated the marriage in
order to secure the title of Basileopater, which gave him
precedence over every other officer of state, 27th April
919. He was now even more than prime-minister, and his
position excited deeper envy. Leo Phokas took up arms in
Bithynia and marched to Chrysopolis (Scutari), declaring
that his object was to deliver the young emperor from
restraint ; but his movement was so evidently the result of
disappointed ambition that he found few to support him, and
he was soon taken prisoner and deprived of sight. Another
conspiracy, having for its object the assassination of the
Basileopater, also failed. The Empress Zoe was accused of
attempting to poison him, and immured in a monastery.
The governor Theodore, perceiving that he no longer enjoyed
the confidence of the friend he had contributed to elevate,
began to thwart the ambitious projects of Romanus, and was
banished to his property in Opsikion. Romanus, finding that
there was now nothing to prevent his indulging his ambition,
persuaded his son-in-law to confer on him the title of Caesar,
and shortly after to elevate him to the rank of emperor.
He was crowned as the colleague of Constantine Porphyro-
* This Niketas was a Sclavoniaii landed proprietor in the Peloponnesus, whose
daughter was married to Christophoros the eldest son of Romanus. His ass4ikc
Sclavonian visage, to use an expression which amused the courtiers of" Con-
stantinople, and has troubled modem scholars, excited the spleen of his imperial
relative. Compare Con tin. 243, Constant. Porphyr. D« Tkemat, 35, and note at
p' 305 of this volume.
* The date is given by the Contmuator (243) and Symeon Mag. (478). But
the chronology of this period is reviewed with learning and accuracy by Krug,
Kritischer Versuch zur Aufkl'drung der ByzatiHnischen Chronologie, mit besondinr
RucLicht auf die fruhire Otschichtt Russlands; Petersburg, i8iO| p. 1 33,
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ROMANUS I. 291
A.D.9XJ-944.]
genitus by the Patriarch Nikolaos in the Church of St. Sophia,
on the 17th December 919 ^
Few men ever possessed the absolute direction of public
affairs in the Byzantine empire without assuming the
imperial title, even though they had no intention of setting
aside the sovereign whose throne they shared. It was well
understood that there was no other means of securing their
position, for as long as they remained only with the rank of
prime-minister or Caesar, they were exposed to lose their sight,
or be put to death by a secret order of the sovereign, obtained
through the intrigues of an eunuch or a slave. But as soon
as they assumed the rank of emperor of the Romans, their
person was sacred, being protected both by the law of high
treason and the force of public opinion, which regarded the
emperor as the Lord's anointed. Two of the greatest
sovereigns who ever sate on the throne of Constantinople,
Nicephorus 11. (Phokas) and John I. (Zimiskes), shared the
throne with Basil II. and Constantine VIII., as Romanus I.
did with Constantine VII.
Romanus was a man of a weak character, who was neither
distinguished by his birth, his talents, nor his services ^. The
valour of his father, who saved the life of the emperor Basil
during the Paulician war, obtained him promotion, but he
rose to the highest rank without performing any exploit of
which his flatterers could boast, and without gaining even a
reputation for personal courage ^. To gratify his passion for
pageantry, and secure the place of honour in the numerous
ceremonies of the Byzantine court, he usurped the place of
his son-in-law, and conferred the imperial crown on his own
wife Theodora. He also conferred the rank of emperor on
his eldest son Christophoros, and gave him precedence of the
young Constantine Porphyrogenitus the hereditary sovereign.
The successful career of a plebeian family was more offensive
to the Byzantine aristocracy than the sudden elevation of a
Sclavonian menial like Basil I., and awakened the ambition of
a more numerous class of pretenders to the throne. The
reign of Romanus was consequently disturbed by a series of
> Krag, 140.
* Hb son-in-law calls him an illiterate person of no rank : ^lli&mi* «ol d7p(£/i-
IMiTM 6y$f»wm. Constant. Porphyr. D« Adm, Imp. p. 66.
» See p. 245.
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292 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.L$3.
conspiracies, all having for their avowed object the restoration
of Constantine Porphyrogenitus to his legitimate rights,
though, probably, the real object of the conspirators was
to gain possession of the power and position occupied by
Romanus. In the year 921, the great officers of the em-
pire—the grand-master of the palace, the minister of forti-
fications, and the director-general of charitable institutions
— were discovered plotting. Shortly after, a patrician, with
the aid of the captain of the guard of Maglabites or
mace-bearers^, undismayed by the preceding failure, again
attempted to dethrone Romanus; and a third conspiracy,
planned by the treasurer and keeper of the imperial plate, one
of the chamberlains, and the captain of the imperial galley,
was organized. All were discovered, and the conspirators
were punished. In 924, BoYlas, a patrician, rebelled on the
frontiers of Armenia, but his troops were defeated by the
celebrated general John Kurkuas, and he was confined in a
monastery. Again, in 926, one of the ministers of state and
the postmaster-general formed a plot, which proved equally
abortive.
As years advanced, the feeble character of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus became more apparent. His want of talent,
and his devotion to literature and art, warned the ablest states-
men to avoid compromising their fortunes by supporting the
cause of one so little qualified to defend his own rights.
Romanus, too, having assumed his three sons, Christophoros^
Stephanos, and Constantinos, as his colleagues, and placed
his son Theophylaktos on the patriarchal throne, considered
his power perfectly secure. The spirit of discontent was,
nevertheless, very prevalent ; the people in the capital and
the provinces were as little inclined to favour the usurping
family as the nobility. An impostor, born in Macedonia,
made his appearance in the theme Opsikion, where he an-
nounced himself to be Constantine Dukas ; and though taken,
and condemned to lose his hand like a common forger, he
succeeded in raising a second rebellion after his release. He
procured an artificial hand of brass, with which he wielded his
sword ; the common people flocked round him, and resisted
* When troops wore plate armour, the iron mace was a more effectual weapon
than the sword in single combat.
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ROMANUS DETHRONED. 293
A.D. 9x2-944.]
the government with so much determination that he was cap-
tured with difficulty, and, to revenge the display he had made
of the weakness of Romanus' power, he was burned alive in
the Amastrianon at Constantinople ^.
In early life Romanus had been a votary of pleasure, but
when the possession of every wish for three-and-twenty years
had tamed his passions, he became a votary of superstition.
Feelings of religion began to affect his mind, and at last
he allowed it to be discovered that he felt some remorse for
having robbed his son-in-law of his birthright, in order to
bestow the gift on his own children, who treated him with
less respect than their brother-in-law the lawful emperor.
Stephanos, impelled by ambition, and perhaps fearing lest
his father should place the sole direction, of the government
in the hands of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who after the
death of Christophoros had been restored to the second place
at court, resolved to secure the possession of supreme authority
by deposing his father *. Romanus was seized by the agents
of his son and carried off to the island of Prote, where he was
compelled to embrace the monastic life. Constantinos, his
younger son, though he had not been privy to the plot, readily
joined in profiting by his father's ill-treatment. Such crimes,
however, always excite indignation in the breasts of the
people ; and in this case the inhabitants of Constantinople,
hearing vague rumours of scenes of dethronement, banish-
ment, and murder, in the imperial palace, became alarmed
for the life of their lawful sovereign, Constantine Porphyro-
genitus. They felt an attachment to the injured prince, whom
they saw constantly at all the church ceremonies, degraded
from his hereditary place ; his habits were known, many spoke
in his praise, nobody could tell any evil of him. A mob
rushed to the palace, and, filling the courts, insisted on seeing
the lawful emperor. His appearance immediately tranquillized
the populace, but hopes were awakened in the breasts of many
intriguers by this sudden display of his influence. A new
vista of intrigue was laid open, and the most sagacious states-
men saw that the degradation of the usurping family was the
only means of maintaining order. Every man in power be-
came a partisan of his long-neglected rights, and Constantine
* Contin. 261. * See Saulcy, E«ai, 231, and Sabatier, ii. 126.
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394 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch.i.§4.
Porphyrogenitus was proclaimed sole emperor without oppo-
sition. The Emperors Stephanos and Constantinos were
seized by the order of Constantine VII., while they were
sitting at a supper-party, and compelled to adopt the monastic
habit, a7th January 945 ^
Sect. IV. — Constantine VI L {Porphyrogenitus) — Romanus 11.
945-9^3-
Character of Constantine VII., a.d. 945-959 — Literary works. — Death. — Con-
spiracies at court. — Pride of Byzantine govemiacnt. — ^Internal condition of
the empire. — Sclavonians in the Peloponnesus. — Mainates.— Saracen ¥rar. —
Bulgarian war.— Character of Romanus II., 959-963. — Conquest of Crete.
— Condition of Greece.
We are principally indebted to the writings of the Emperor
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, or to works compiled by his
order, for our knowledge of Byzantine history during the latter
half of the ninth and earlier half of the tenth centuries. His
own writings give us a picture of his mind, for he generally
communicates his information as it occurs to himself, without
hunting for classic and ecclesiastical phrases, and seeking for
learned allusions and antiquated words to confuse and astonish
his readers, as was the fashion with most of the Byzantine
nobles who affected the literary character. Of his person we
have a correct description in the writings of his dependants.
He was tall and well made, with broad shoulders, a long neck
and a long face. This last feature is represented in caricature
on some of the coins of his reign. His skin was extremely
fair, his complexion ruddy, his eyes soft and expressive, his
^ I may here correct Saulcy {Essai dt Classification des Svites moneiaires byzam-
't^^i 334)* ^nd Victor Langlois, in the new edition of Lettres du Baron Marckami
sur la Numismatique (89). Marchant was right in attributing the coins usually
ascribed to Romanus II. to Romanus I. I possess three good examples of Con-
stantine VII., with his long visage struck over Romanus, and also tliree of
Constantine and Romanus II. stru(£ over Romanus I., which is certainly decisive.
I own I had entertained no doubt of the correctness of Marchant's attribution
before meeting with these examples, from the great number of the coins I had met
with in the Peloponnesus, and which I supposed must have been brought to pay
the troops Romanus I. employed there against the Sclavonians I possess a
Romanus I., also struck over one of the incertains of John Zimiskes as they are
called, but which appear to date from the reign of Basil I. The coins attributed
by Saulcy (201) to Basil I. and Constantine his son, also belong, in some cases at
least, to Basil II. and Constantine VIII. I possess a piece in copper, in which
the youth of both princes leaves no doubt on the subject.
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CHARACTER OF CONSTANTINE VII. 295
A.D. 945-963.]
nose aquiline, and his carriage straight as a cypress. He was
a lover of good cheer, and kept the best of cooks, and a cellar
of excellent wine of the choicest kinds ; but he indulged in no
excesses, and his morals were pure. He was reserved and
mild in his intercourse with his familiars, eloquent and liberal
to his dependants, so that we must not wonder that his pane-
gyrists forgot his defects. In a despotic sovereign, such a
character could not fail to be popular ^.
Constantine's long seclusion from public business had been
devoted to the cultivation of his taste in art, as well as to
serious study. He was a proficient in mathematics, astro-
nomy, architecture, sculpture, painting, and music. The
works of his pencil were of course lauded as equal to the
pictures by Apelles ; his voice was often heard in the solemn
festivals of the church. An encyclopaedia of historical know-
ledge — of which a part only has reached our time, but even
this part has preserved many valuable fragments of ancient
historians — and treatises on agriculture and the veterinary art,
were compiled under his inspection ^.
The historical works written by his order were a chronicle
in continuation of the Chronography of Theophanes, embracing
the period from the reign of Leo V. (the Armenian) to the
death of Michael HI. The name of the writer is said to be
Leontios. A second work on the same period, but including
the reign of Basil I., was also written by Genesius ; and a
third work, by an anonymous continuator, carried Byzantine
history down to the commencement of the reign of his son
Romanus H ^.
The writings ascribed to Constantine himself are peculiarly
valuable, for several relate to subjects treated by no other
author*. The life of his grandfather, Basil I., tells some
* Contin. 292.
* The fragments relating to the later portion of Roman history are collected
in the first volume of the edition of the Byzantine historians pubUshed at Bonn,
Demppif EunaptU Petri Patrieiit Prisci^ Malchit Menandri historiarum quae super&un/^
1829. 8vo.
' The attention of the Emperor Constantine was natarally directed to con-
tinuing the work of Theoplmnes, as that celebrated annalist was his mother's
uncle. De Adm. Imp. c xxii. p. 76, edit. Bonn. The continuation of Theophanes*
and the history of the successors of Basil I., are contained in the volume of
the Byzantine historians entitled Scriptores post Theophanem. Genesius was first
printed in the Venetian edition, but a more correct text is given in the Bonn
edition.
* [It is easy to depreciate, as some writers do, the learning and art of the
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2g6 BASIL/AN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.ai.L(4>
truths, from vanity, that an experienced flatterer would have
concealed for fear of wounding family prided A short
geographical notice of the themes or administrative divisions
of the Byzantine empire -gives us the means of connecting
mediaeval with ancient geography ^ But the emperor's most
valuable work is a treatise on the government of the empire,
written for the use of his son Romanus, which abounds with
contemporary information concerning the geographical limits
and political relations of the people on the northern frontier of
the empire near the Black Sea, with notices of the Byzantine
power in Italy, and of the condition of the Greeks and Scla-
vonians in the Peloponnesus, of which we should otherwise
know almost nothing ^. Two essays on military tactics— one
relating to naval and military operations with the r^^lar
troops of the empire, and the other to the usages of foreigners —
contain also much information *. The longest work, however,
that Constantine wrote, and that on which he prided himself
most, was an account of the ceremonies and usages of the
Byzantine court. It is probably now the least read of his
writings, yet it gives us an exact description filled with curious
details of the ceremonial by which men's minds were fettered,
and which acted as an efficient power in governing and
oppressing the most civilized races of mankind for several
centuries ^.
Byzantine emperors and people, and to characterize them as dull, pedantic, and
conventional. But we must remember that it was the taste for these things which
maintained the high level of cultivation that distinguished the Byzantines from
the people of all other contemporary states, and caused the ancient literature
to be preserved. The literary pursuits of emperors like Leo the Philosopher and
Constantine Porphyrogenitus did much towards setting the feshion, which rendered
studious habits popular. M. Rambaud well remarks {VEmpire grec au dixiefiM
SiecU, p. 60), that in the ninth century the monastery is the centre of the intellectual
movement, in the tenth the palace. The same writer (pp. 65 fbll.) gives a long
list of the authors and artists of the age of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Ed.]
* The Life of Basil is contained in Scriptores post TTteophanem.
^ [M. Rambaud (pp 164 foil.) adduces valid reasons for thinking that the Dt
TTiematibus was a very early, as it certainly is a very crude, production of Con-
stantine VII. He was probably not more than ao years old when he compiled it
M. Rambaud remarks that the writer, while professing to give contemporary,
really gives ancient, geography. He describes the empire as it was, not in the
tenth, but in the sixth century. Ed.]
' The works De Thematihus and De AdnUmstrando Imperio are contained in
Banduri's Imperium Orimtale^ and in the Bonn collection. The work De Adm, Imp.
was terminated in the year 952. Krug, 266.
* The best edition of these treatises is contained in the sixth volume of the
works of Meursius.
* Part of the work De Caeremonits Aulae Byzantinae has been interpolated at a
later period, and hence some have conjectured that the whole is the oompilation
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DEATH OF CONSTANTINE VII. %^']
A.D. 945-963.]
The government of Constantine was on the whole mild
and equitable, and the empire during his reign was rich and
flourishing. When he became despotic master of the East, he
continued to think and act very much as he had done in his
forced seclusion. He displayed the same simplicity of manner
and goodness of heart. His weakness prevented him from
being a good sovereign, but his humanity and love of justice
preserved him from being a bad one, and he continued all his
life to be popular with the mass of his subjects. His kind
disposition induced him to allow his son, Romanus H., to
marry Theophano, a girl of singular beauty, and of the most
graceful and fascinating manners, but the daughter of a man
in mean circumstances. The Byzantine historians, who are
frequently the chroniclers of aristocratic scandal, and whose
appetite for popular calumny swallows the greatest improba-
bilities, have recorded that Theophano repaid the goodness of
the emperor by inducing Romanus to poison his father \
They pretend that the chief butler was gained, and that Con-
stantine partook of a beverage, in which poison was mingled
with medicine prescribed by his physician. Accident pre-
vented hin*from swallowing enough to terminate his life, but
the draught injured a constitution already weak. To recover
from the languor into which he fell, he made a tour in
Bithynia in order to enjoy the bracing air of Mount Olympus,
and visit the principal monasteries and cells of anchorites,
with which the mountain was covered. But his malady in-
creased, and he returned to Constantinople to die, 9th
November 959.
The picture which we possess of the conduct of Constantine
in his own family is so amiable, that we are compelled to
reject the accusations brought against Romanus and Theo-
phano ; — we can no more believe that they poisoned Constan-
tine, than we can credit all the calumnies against Justinian
recounted by Procopius. To perpetrate such a crime, Romanus
would have been one of the worst monsters of whose acts
history has preserved a record ; and a character so diabolical
of the Emperor Constantine VIII. The only complete edition of the Notes is that
of Bonn. It is edited with care, but wants an index, which would perhaps be
more useful than a Latin translation.
* Cedrenus (641) and Zonaras (ii. 195) both accuse Theophano and Romanus
of parricide.
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[Bk.ir.Ch. I. §4.
would have revealed its inherent wickedness during the four
years he governed the empire with absolute power. Yet he
appears only as a gay, pleasure-loving, pleasure-hunting prince.
His father and his sisters always regarded him with the
tenderest affection. Agatha, the youngest, was her father's
constant companion in his study, and acted as his favourite
secretary. Seated by his side, she read to him all the official
reports of the ministers ; and when his health b^an to fail, it
was through her intermediation that he consented to transact
public business. That such a proceeding created no alarming
abuses, and produced neither serious complaints nor family
quarrels, is more honourable to the heart of the princess than
her successful performance of her task to her good sense and
ability. It proves that affection, and not ambition, prompted
her conduct. Historians and novelists may recount that
Romanus, who lived in affectionate intercourse with such a
father and sister, became a parricide, but the tenor of actual
life rejects the possibility of any man acting suddenly, and for
once, as a monster of iniquity \
The necessity of a safety-valve for political dissatisfaction,
such as is afforded by a free press or a representative assem-
bly, to prevent sedition, is evident, when we find a popular
prince like Constantine exposed to numerous conspiracies.
Men will not respect laws which appear to their minds to be
individual privileges, and not national institutions. Conspira-
cies then form an ordinary method of gambling for improving
a man's fortune, and though few could aspire to the imperial
throne, every man could hope for promotion in a change.
Hence, we find a plot concocted to place the old Romanus
I. again on the throne. Partisans were even found who
laboured for the worthless Stephanos, who was successively
removed to Proconnesus, Rhodes, and Mitylene. Constantinos
also, who was transported to Tenedos and then to Samothrace,
made several attempts to escape. In the last he killed the
captain of his guards, and was slain by the soldiers. The
conspirators in all these plots were treated with comparative
mildness, for the punishment of death was rarely inflicted
either by Romanus I. or Constantine VII.
In spite of the wealth of the empire, and though the govem-
* Contin. 286.
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^•945-963]
ment maintained a powerful standing army and regular navy,
there were many signs of inherent weakness in the state. The
emperors attempted to make pride serve as a veil for all defects.
The court assumed an inordinate d^ree of pomp in its inter-
course with foreigners. This pretension exposed it to envy;
and the affectation of contempt assumed by the barbarians,
who were galled by Byzantine pride, has been reflected through
all succeeding history, so that we find even the philosophic
Gibbon sharing the prejudices of Luitprand. Constantine
Porphyrogenitus has fortunately left us an unvarnished pic-
ture of this senseless presumption, written with the foolish
simplicity of an emperor who talks of what a statesman would
feel inclined to conceal. He tells of the diplomatic arts and
falsehoods to be used in order to prevent foreign princes
obtaining a dress or a crown similar to that worn by the
emperor of Constantinople ; and he seems to consider this not
less important than preventing them from obtaining the secret
of Greek fire. Foreign ambassadors are to be told that such
crowns were not manufactured on earth, but had been brought
by an angel to the great Constantine, the first Christian em-
peror ; that they have always been deposited in the sacristy of
St Sophia's, under the care of the Patriarch, and are only to
be used on certain fixed ceremonies. The angel pronounced
a malediction on any one who ventured to use them, except
on the occasions fixed by immemorial usage ; and the Emperor
Leo IV., who had neglected this divine order, and placed one
on his head, had quickly died of a brain fever. Similar tales
and excuses were to be invented, in order to refuse the demands
of princes who wished to intermarry with the imperial family.
Any demand for Greek fire was to be eluded in the same
way^.
The attachment of the people rendered the Patriarch at
one time almost equal to the emperor in dignity, but the
clergy of the capital were now more closely connected with
the court than with the people. The power of the emperor
to depose as well as to appoint the Patriarch was hardly .
questioned, and of course the head of the Eastern church
occupied a very inferior position to the Pope of Rome. The
church of Constantinople, filled with courtly priests, lost its
* Constant. Porphyr. De Adm. Imp, c 13.
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[Bk.n.Ch.L§4.
political influence, and both religion: and civilisation suffered
by this increase of the imperial power. From this period we
may date the decline of the Greek church.
The Patriarch Nikolaos, the mystic who had been deposed
by Leo VI. for opposing his fourth marriage (a.d. 908), was
reinstated by Alexander, who acted ia opposition to most
of his brother's measures (a.D. 91a). After Romanus I. was
established on the throne, Nikolaos yielded so far to the
pre-eminence of the civil power as to consent to a union
with the party of his successor, Euthymios, and to own that
the marriage of Leo had been sanctified by the act of the
Patriarch de facto. This was done to avoid what Nikolaos
called scandal in the chur<:h ; but the political experience
of the bigoted ecclesiastic having shown him that he must
look for support and power to the emperor, and not to the
people, he became at last quite as subservient to the court
as the mild Euthymios had ever been. On the death of
Nikolaos (925), Stephen the eunuch, archbishop of Amasia,
was appointed his successor, who, after a patriarchate of three
years, was succeeded by Tryphon (a.d, 938). Tryphon held
the office provisionally until Theophylaktos, the son of the
Emperor Romanus L, attained the full' age for ordination;
but in order to avoid too great scandal in the church, Tryphon
was deposed a year before Theophylaktos was appointed.
The imperial youth was then only sixteen years of age, but
his father obtained a papal confirmation of his election by
means of Alberic, consul and patrician of Rome, who kept
his own brother. Pope John XL, a prisoner at the time. Papal
legates were sent to Constantinople, who installed Theophy-
laktos in the patriarchal chair on the 2nd February 933. The
highest order of priests in the Church, both in the East and
West, insulted Christianity. The crimes and debauchery of
the papal court were, however, more offensive than the ser-
vility and avarice of the Greek hierarchy. John XL was
appointed Pope at the age of twenty-five, through the in-
fluence of his mother Marosia (a.D.^ 931). Marosia and her
second husband, Guy of Tuscany, had dethroned, and it is
supposed murdered, John X., of the family of Cenci. John XL,
as we have mentioned, was imprisoned by his brother Alberic,
and died in confinement, a victim to the political intrigues of
his brother and his mother. Alberic ruled Rome for about
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A.D. 945-963.]
thirty years, and during that time the popes were only the
patriarchs of the Latin church. On Alberic's death, his son
Octavian succeeded him as patrician, and became Pope at
the age of eighteen, under the name of John XII. (ad. 956).
He is generally considered the greatest criminal that ever
occupied the papal throne ^
The conduct of the Patriarch Theophylaktos was not much
worse than might have been expected from a young man
whose father had provided him with a bishopric, merely that
he might enjoy a suitable rank and revenue. As long as his
father could keep persons about the young man capable of
controlling his conduct, outward decency was preserved ; but
age soon rendered him independent of advice, and he openly
indulged tastes extremely unsuitable to his ecclesiastical
digfnity. He lived like a debauched young prince, and sold
ecclesiastical preferments to raise money for his pleasures.
He converted the celebration of divine service at St. Sophia's
into a musical festival, adorned with rich pageantry. His
passion for horses and for hunting exceeded that of the
Emperor Basil I., and it caused his death, as it had done
that of the imperial groom. The patriarchal stables are said to
have contained two thousand horses. The magnificence of the
building, and the manner in which his favourite steeds were
fed, bathed, and perfumed, were at the time among the wonders
of Constantinople. Once, as Theophylaktos was officiating
at the high altar of St. Sophia's, a slave crept up to him and
whispered that his favourite mare had foaled. The congre-
gation was alarmed by the precipitation with which the
* most holy ' pontiflf finished the service. The young Patriarch
threw aside his ecclesiastical vestments as quickly as possible,
and ran to the stable. After satisfying himself that every-
thing was done for the comfort of the mare and foal, he
returned to his cathedral to occupy his place in the proces-
sion. The people of Constantinople submitted to receive
religious instruction from this festival and hunting-loving
Patriarch for twenty years ; but strange must have been the
reports that circulated through the provinces of the empire
* Baronius, Ann, EceUs, Bellarmine, according to Daunou, calls him almost
the worst of the popes ; Dt Rom. Pont, ii. c. 29. Montor {Histoire des Souvtrains
Ponttfes Romains, ii. 94) says, * Quant k Tautorit^ religieuse, il fut s^vire, naais,
pape l^time, il usait d*un droit reconnu/ Historians doubt whether he was
miirdered on account of his cruelties or his adulteries.
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[Bk.II.Ch.I.§4.
concerning the impious proceedings, profane songs, indecent
dances, and diabolical ceremonies, with which he defiled the
Church of the Divine Wisdom, could we look into the secret
history of some provincial Procopius. The death of Theo-
phylaktos was in keeping with his life. One of his horses,
as self-willed as the Patriarch, and as unfit for its duty,
dashed him against a wall. The accident brought on a
dropsy, and he died in 956, after having too long di^raced
the Greek church, and made St. Sophia's an opera-housed
He was succeeded by Polyeuktos, an ecclesiastic whose
parents had marked him out for an ecclesiastical life ^.
It has been said that the general condition of the inha-
bitants of the Byzantine empire was prosperous; but in
a despotic government, any negligence on the part of the
central administration is infallibly followed by cruelty and
extortion on the part of some of its distant agents, who
exercise a power too great to be left uncontrolled without
the certainty of abuse. The weakness both of Romanus I.
and Constantine VI I. allowed considerable disorder to pre-
vail at Constantinople, and the grossest acts of tyranny to
be committed in the provinces. Chases, a man of Saracen
extraction, was raised to high office by the companions of
the debauchery of Alexander, and was governor of the theme
of Hellas during the minority of Constantine, His insatiable
avarice and infamous profligacy at last drove the inhabitants
of Athens to despair, and as he was attending divine service
in the great temple of the Acropolis— once dedicated to the
Divine Wisdom of the pagans— they rose in tumult, and
stoned their oppressor to death at the altar^. A governor
* These expressions are not stronger than those of Cedrenus (638), who was
scandalized by the remains of the mummeries introduced into the cathedral service
by TheophyUktos, and which were perpetuated to his time.
' The practice of making children eunuchs to insure their promotion in the
church was common at this time in the Byzantine empire.
• Contin. 240. An anecdote recorded by the Byzantine writers deserves notice,
though it may be an example of individual wickedness, not general demoraliza-
tion. An Athenian named Rendakios (who may have been of Sclavonian descent,
as he was a relative of the Patrician Niketas). ruined by debauchery and debt, laid
a plot to murder his father. The old man quitted Athens to live in tranquillity at
Constantinople, but was taken by pirates and carried to Crete. Rendaxios pre-
tended that his father was dead, took possession of the family property, sold it,
and removed to Constantinople. His attempt to commit parricide became known,
and he was compelled to seek an asylum in the precincts of St. Sophia's ; but an
order was given to arrest him. lie contrived to escape, and forged letters of
recommendation from the Emperor Romanus to Simeon, king of Bul^ria, but was
captured, and condenmed to lose his sight. Contin. 247^.
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CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE. 303
A.D. 945-963.]
of Cherson had been murdered for oppression at the end
of the reign of Leo the Philosopher. John Muzalon, the
governor of Calabria, now shared the same fate. As no
attention was paid by such officers to protecting the com-
mercial lines of trade either by sea or land, the navigation
of the Archipelago and the Adriatic was infested by pirates,
and the great roads of Asia and Europe were dangerous from
the bands of brigands who remained unmolested in their
vicinity. Urso Participatio, the seventh doge of Venice, sent
his son Petro to Constantinople to announce his election, and
concert measures to protect the commerce of the Adriatic
against the Saracen and Sclavonian pirates. Petro was
honoured with the title of protospatharios, and received
many valuable presents from the emperor. But no measures
were adopted for protecting trade ; and the son of the doge
of Venice was seized by Michael, duke of Sclavonia, as he
was returning home, and delivered to Simeon, king of Bul-
garia. The Sclavonian kept the presents, and the Bulgarian
compelled his father to pay a large ransom for his release ^.
Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, sent an embassy to
Romanus I. The Sclavonians in the neighbourhood of Thes-
salonica attacked the ambassadors ; but the Italians of their
suite defeated the brigands, and captured several, whom they
carried to Constantinople and delivered to the emperor for
punishment 2.
Weak, however, as the Byzantine empire may appear to
us, it presented a very different aspect to all contemporary
governments; for in every other country the administration
was worse, and property and life were much more insecure.
Its alUance was consequently eagerly sought by every inde-
pendent state, and the court of Constantinople was visited
by ambassadors from distant parts of Europe, Africa, and
Asia. The Greeks were then the greatest merchants and
capitalists in the world, and their influence was felt not only
* Muratori, Annali d' Italia, v. 270 ; Le Beau, xiii. 403.
■ The stepfaUier of Luitprand the historian, who was afterwards ambassador
from Otho to Nicephorus II., was one of the envoys. Among the presents were
two immense boar-hounds. These dogs were so enraged at the appearance the
Emperor Romanus made in his imperial robes, for they took him for a wild
animal, that they could hardly be held by their keepers from attacking him on his
throne, they were so eager to worry him. Luitprand, De Rebus suo Tempore in
Europa gestis, iii. c. 5 ; Muratori, v. 42 a ; Le Beau, xiii. 445.
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[Bk.n.Ch.I. §4.
by all the nations professing Christianity, but by the rival
caliphs of Bagdad and Cordova, and the hostile Mohammedan
princes of Egypt and Mauretania; it extended even to the
Saxon monarchs of England ^
The Sclavonians of the Peloponnesus, who had gained a
temporary independence during the latter part of the reign
of Theophilus, remained tranquil from the time of their
subjection by Theodora's regency, until the careless adminis-
tration of Romanus I. again invited them to rebel. Two
tribes, the Melings and Ezerites, who dwelt round Mount
Taygetus in a state of partial independence, conceived the
hope of delivering themselves from the Byzantine yoke, and
boldly refused to pay the usual tribute *. Krinites Arotras,
the general of the Peloponnesian theme, was ordered to
reduce them to obedience ; but he was unable to make them
lay down their arms until he had laid waste their country
from March to November, without allowing them either to
reap or sow. On their submission, their tribute was increased,
and each tribe was obliged to pay six hundred byzants
annually. But disturbances occurring not long afterwards
among the Byzantine officers, and a new tribe called the
Sclavesians entering the peninsula, the Melings and Ezerites
sent deputies to the Emperor Romanus to solicit a reduction
of their tribute. The peaceable inhabitants saw their pro-
perty threatened with plunder and devastation if the Melings
and Ezerites should unite with the Sclavesians; the central
government was threatened with the loss of the revenues of
the province; so the emperor consented to issue a golden
bull, or imperial charter with a golden seal, fixing the tribute
of the Melings at sixty gold byzants, and that of the Ezerites
at three hundred, as it had been before their rebellion ^
The Sclavonian population of the Peloponnesus was not
confined to the tributary districts; nor, indeed, were these
the only Sclavonians who retained their own local adminis-
tration. The whole country, from the northern bank of the
Alpheus to the sources of the Ladon and Erymanthus, was
inhabited by Sclavonians who governed it according to their
* Kemble, The Saxons in England^ ii. Introd. p. x.
* The classic name of Taygetus was already forgotten, and the mountain was
called, as at present, Pentedaktylos. Const. Porph. Dt Adm, Imp. c 5a
» See p. 166.
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AJ>. 945-9^3.]
national usages until the Crusaders conquered Greece. A
considerable body of the Sclavonians adopted Byzantine
manners, and some of the wealthiest contended for the
highest places in the administration of the empire. The
patrician Niketas took an active share in the intrigues which
placed the imperial crown on the head of Romanus. His
pride and presumption, as well as his Sclavonian descent, are
ridiculed by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus,
though the patrician had formed an alliance with the imperial
family \
From this time we hear nothing more of the Sclavonians
settled in the Peloponnesus, until the peninsula was invaded
by the Crusaders, after they had taken Constantinople, and
established the Frank empire of Romania (A.D. 1204).
The condition of the town of Maina and the district about
Cape Taenarus presents us with a picture of the vicissitudes
the Greeks had suffered during the decline of the Roman
empire. The population of this rugged promontory consisted
of the poorer class of agricultural Laconians, and it kept
possession of this arid district when the Sclavonians seized
the rich plain of the Eurotas and drove the Greeks out of
Sparta. The strangers occupied all the rich pastures on
Mount Taygetus, but want of water prevented their advance
along the promontory of Taenarus, and the fortified town of
Maina enabled the inhabitants to defend their liberty and
support themselves by exporting oil. This secluded country
long remained in a state of barbarism. The rural population,
if it had ever embraced Christianity, soon relapsed into
idolatry, from which it was not converted until the reign of
* The daughter of Niketas was the wife of the Emperor Christophoros, the
eldest son of Romanus I. The verse of a Byzantine poet, which Constantine
mentions as applied to Niketas, has caused much, learned discussion. The words
seem to say that the patrician had an ass-like Sclavonian visage—
Di Tkgmatibus, ii. 6 ; Kopitar, Miscellanea Graecoslavica, p. 63. [All attempts to
explain the first word in this line, which only occurs in this place, seem to have
been unavailing. The original reading is yafia<r9ottd-^$, which according to
Banduri« in his notes to the passage in Constant. Porphyr. (vol. iii. p. 296, edit.
Bonn), seems to be used for y€povTott9^$ : this explanation is adopted by Schafarik
(SlawUehe Altertkumir, ii. 192), but it appears to be a mere conjecture. Hopf (.in
Brockhaus' Oruehenland, vi. 96 ; re-issue from Ersch and Gruber) explains it as
' cunning.' Finlay's reading, yaSapotiifffi, * ass-like,* is also pure conjecture. The
former part of this compound is yddapot or yai^poi, the latter of which forms is
the regular Modem Greek word for a donkey. The derivation is seen in the
earlier form dcfSopos (dc2, dipw), *the incessantly beaten;' see Ducange, s.v.
Ed.]
VOL. II. X
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3o6 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch. I. {4.
Basil I. In the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the
town of Maina was a place of some commercial importance,
and was governed by an officer appointed by the general of
the Peloponnesian theme ; but the district continued to pay
only four hundred pieces of gold to the imperial treasury,
which was the amount levied on it in the days of the Roman
empire ^.
It was fortunate for the Byzantine empire that the caliphate
of Bagdad had lost its former military power, for if an active
enemy on the southern frontier had taken advantage of the
embarrassments caused by an enterprising warrior like
Simeon, king of Bulgaria^ in the north, the empire might
have been reduced to the deplorable condition from which it
had been raised by the vigour of the Iconoclasts. But
repeated rebellions had separated many of the richest pro-
vinces from the caliphate, and the tyranny of a religious sway,
that enforced unity of faith by persecution, had compelled
heresy to appeal to the sword on every difference of opinion.
This additional cause of ruin and depopulation, added to the
administrative anarchy that was constantly on the increase
in the caliph's dominions, had greatly weakened the Saracen
power. The innumerable discussions which a formal ortho-
doxy created in the Greek church were trifling in comparison
with those which the contemplative tendencies of the Asiatic
mind raised in the bosom of Islam.
Several independent dynasties were already founded
within the dominions of the caliph of Bagdad, which were
disturbed by several sects besides the Karmathians. Yet,
amidst all their civil wars, the Mohammedans made continual
incursions into Asia Minor, and the Byzantine troops avenged
the losses of the Christians by ravaging Syria and Mesopo-
tamia. Slaves and cattle were carried off by both parties,
whether victors or vanquished, so that the country became
gradually depopulated ; and in succeeding generations We
find the richest provinces between the Halys, the Euphrates,
and the Mediterranean in a state of desolation. The suburbs
of the towns were reduced to ashes ; valleys, once swarming
with inhabitants, and cultivated witlv the spade, so that they
could support millions, were reduced to sheep-walks. Curing
^ D4 Adm, Imp. c. 50. p. 224, edit. Bonn.
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AA 945-9^3.]
the r^ency of Zoe, Damian, emir of Tyre, with a powerful
fleet under his command, attacked Strobelos in Caria, but
was repuked^ In the following year the Byzantine army
made an irruption into the territories of Germanicia and
Samosata, and carried off fifty thousand prisoners, according
to the accounts of the Arabian historians. The empress-
regent would have willingly concluded peace with the Saracens
at this time, for she was compelled to transport the greater
part of the Asiatic army into Europe to resist Simeon, king
of Bulgaria, and it appears that a truce and exchange of
prisoners took place. The Byzantine arms had been so much
more successful than the Saracen during the preceding
campaigns, that when all the Christians had been exchanged,
the number of Mohammedans still unredeemed was so great
that the caliph paid a hundred and twenty thousand pieces of
gold for their release, according to the stipulated price fixed
by the convention ^
Romanus I., who had obtained the throne by means of the
support of the navy, appears to have paid more attention to
keep it in good order than his predecessors. In the year
926, Leo of Tripolis, who visited the Archipelago, seeking to
repeat his exploits at Thessalonica, was encountered in the
waters of Lemnos by the imperial squadron under John
Radenos, and so completely defeated that it was with diffi-
culty he saved his own ship.
The wars of the Karmathians brought the caliphate into
such a disturbed state that the Christians of Armenia again
raised their banner, and, uniting their forces with the
Byzantine generals, obtained great successes over the
Saracens. John, the son of that Kurkuas who had been
deprived of sight for conspiring against Basil I., was appointed
commander-in-chief by Romanus, and commenced a career
of conquest ably followed up a few years later by the
Emperor Nicephorus II. and John I. (Zimiskes). The
military skill of John Kurkuas, tJie high discipline of his
araiy, and the tide of conquest which flowed with his presence,
* Strobelos was the ancient Myndos. It is called an island by the Byzantine
writers from its peninsular situation. Constant. Porphyr., D* Thtm. p. 15, edit.
Boon.
* Weil. Gticldckf d$r CkaliftH, ii. 635. The Byzantine ambassador waa at
Bagdad in July 917.
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[Bk.n.Ch.I.|4.
revived aspirations of military renown long dormant at Con-
stantinople. The learned were pleased to compare him with
Trajan and Belisarius, the heroes of the Western and Eastern
Empires.
As early as the reign of Leo VI., the Armenians under
Melias had made considerable progress. The territory they
delivered from the yoke of the Mohammedans was formed
into a small theme, called Lykandos, and Melias was named
its general, with the rank of Patrician ^. From the year 920
to 94a, John Kurkuas was almost uninterruptedly engaged
against the Saracens. In 927 he ravaged the province of
Melitene, and took the capital, of which, however, he only
retained possession for a months Two years after, the
Saracen emir of Melitene, finding himself unable to resist
the Byzantine armies, engaged to pay tribute to the emperor.
In the mean time, the Armenians, with the assistance of a
division of Byzantine troops, had pushed their conquests to
the lake of Van, and forced the Saracens of Aklat and Betlis
not only to pay tribute, but to allow the cross to be elevated
in their cities higher than the domes of their mosques. The
long series of annual incursions recorded by the Byzantine
and Arabian writers may be described in the words plunder,
slavery, depopulation. In the campaign of 941, the Byzan-
tine troops are said to have reduced fifteen thousand Saracens
to slavery. But the exploit which raised the reputation of
John Kurkuas to the highest pitch of glory was the acquisi-
tion of the miraculous handkerchief, with a likeness of our
Saviour visibly impressed on its texture ; a relic which the
superstition of the age believed had been sent by Christ
himself to Abgarus, prince of Edessa. In the year 942, John
Kurkuas crossed the Euphrates, plundered Mesopotamia as
far as the banks of the Tigris, took Nisibis, and laid siege to
Edessa. The inhabitants of the city purchased their safety
by surrendering the miraculous handkerchief. The victorious
general was removed from his command shortly after, and
the relic was transported to Constantinople by others ^
^ CoDstant. Porphyr., Dt Adm, Imp, c. 50. p. aaS.
. ■ Contin. 257 ; Weil, ii. 637.
» Georg. Mon. 590 ; Contin, a68 ; Knig, 225. In this age there was a
vehement desire to gain possession of relics. Chamich, History qf Armmia^ iL
83.
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The parallel drawn by the people of Constantinople
between Belisarius and John Kurkuas seems imperfectly
borne out by the conquests of the later general; but the
acquisition of a relic weighed, in those days, more than that
of a kingdom. Yet, perhaps, even the miraculous portrait of
Edessa would not have been compared with the conquest of
the Vandal and Gothic monarchies, had the two-and-twenty
years of John Kurkuas's honourable service not been repaid
by courtly ingratitude. In the plenitude of his fame, the
veteran was accused of aspiring at the empire, and removed
from all his employments. Romanus I., like Justinian, when
he examined the accusation, was convinced of its falsity, but
he was jealous and mean-spirited \
During the government of Constantine VII., the war was
continued with vigour on both sides. Self Addawalah, the
Hamdanite, called by the Greeks Chabdan, who was emir of
Aleppo, invaded the empire with powerful armies^. Bardas
Phokas, the Byzantine general, displayed more avarice than
energy; and even when replaced by his son Nicephorus, the
future emperor, victory was not immediately restored to the
imperial standards. But towards the end of Constantine's
reign, Nicephorus, having reformed various abuses both in the
military and civil service, arising from the traffic in plunder
and slaves captured in the annual forays of the troops, at last
led an army into the field calculated to prosecute the war with
glory. The result of these preparations became visible in the
reign of Romanus II.
After the conquest of Crete, the whole disposable force of
the empire in Asia was placed under the command of Nice-
phorus, who, according to the Arabians, opened the campaign
of 962 at the head of one hundred thousand men^ The
Saracens were unable to oppose this army in the field ;
Doliche, Hierapolis, and Anazarba were captured, and Nice-
phorus advanced to Aleppo, where Seif Addawalah had collected
' Manuel, a judge and protospatharios, wrote a work in eight books on the
exploits of John Kurkuas. As the holy handkerchief of Edessa was brought to
Constantinople after his disgrace, 15th August 943, his name is not mentioned
by the servile historians of the empire in connection with its capture. This fact
shows to what extent these writers conceal the truth. Compare Contln. 265, and
Kru^, 224.
• Leo Diaconus, wo/t, p. 415, edit. Bonn; D'Herbelot, Hamadcm ben Hamdoun;.
Weil, iii. 14.
* Leo Diaconus, 378, edit Bonn.
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[Bk.II.Ch.Lf4.
an army to protect his capital. The position of the Ham-
danite was turned by the superior tactics of the Byzantine
general, his communications with his capital cut off, his army
defeated, and the suburbs of Aleppo occupied. A sedition of
the Arab troops, and a quarrel between the inhabitants and
the garrison, enabled Nicephorus to enter the city; but the
citadel defied his attacks. On the approach of a Saracen
army from Damascus, Nicephorus abandoned his conquest,
carrying away immense booty from the city of Aleppo, but he
retained possession of sixty forts along the range of Mount
Taurus as the result of his campaign.
The disastrous defeat of the Byzantine army by the Bulga-
rians at Achelous was the primary cause of the elevation of
Romanus I. to the throne; and as emperor, he conducted
the war quite as ill as he had directed the operations of the
fleet when admiral, though he could now derive no personal
advantage from the disasters of his country. In 921, the
warlike monarch of the Bulgarians advanced to the walls of
Constantinople, after defeating a Byzantine army under John
Rector. The imperial palace of the fountains, and many
villas about the city, were burned before Simeon retired with
his booty. The city of Adrianople was taken in one
campaign by treachery, lost and reconquered in another by
famine^. In the month of September 923, Simeon again
encamped before the walls of Constantinople, after having
ravaged the greater part of Thrace and Macedonia with
extreme barbarity, destroying the fruit-trees and burning the
houses of the peasantry. He offered, however, to treat of
peace, and proposed a personal interview with Romanus I.,
who was compelled to meet his proud enemy without the
walls, in such a way that the meeting had the appearance
of a Roman emperor suing for peace from a victorious bar-
barian. Romanus, when he approached the ground marked
out for the interview, saw the Bulgarian army salute Simeon
as an emperor with loud shouts and music, while the body-
guard of the Bulgarian king, resplendent with silver armour,
astonished the people of Constantinople by its splendour, and
^ The second capture of Adrianople is placed by all the Byzantine writers in the
loth indiction, a.d. 921 ; but Krug gives reasons for placing it in the year 923.
Chron. der Byz. 155.
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A.D. 945.963.]
the veteran soldiers of the empire by its steady disciplined
It seems that the rebellion of the Sclavonians in the Pelopon-
nesus filled Romanus with anxiety ; but he affected to solicit
peace from motives of religion and humanity, that he might
alleviate the sufferings of his subjects. The basis of peace
was settled at this conference, and Simeon retired to his own
kingdom laden with the plunder of the provinces and the gold
of the emperor. The Byzantine writers omit to mention any
of the stipulations of this treaty, so that there can be no
doubt that it was far from honourable to the empire. It
must be remarked, however, that they are always extremely
negligent in their notice of treaties, and have not transmitted
to us the stipulations of any of those concluded with the
Khazars, or other nations through whose territory a great part
of the commercial intercourse of the Byzantine empire with
India and China was carried on, and from which the wealth of
Constantinople was in a great measure derived. There can
be no doubt, however, that one of the stipulations of this
treaty was the public acknowledgment of the independence of
the Bulgarian church, and the official recognition of the arch-
bishop of Dorostylon as Patriarch of Bulgaria, both by the
emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople ^.
Simeon then turned his arms against the Servians and
Croatians. His cruelty in these hostilities is said to have
surpassed anything ever witnessed. The inhabitants were
everywhere deliberately murdered, and all Servia was so
depopulated that its richest plains remained uncultivated for
many years. Every inhabitant not slain was carried into
Bulgaria to be sold as a slave; and the capital was so
' Simeon is supposed to have formed an alliance with the Pope, who sent him a
roj'al crown to reward his hostilities against the Byzantine empire and church.
Schafarik, Sletwische AUerthumer^ ii. 187.
' The fact is proved by the list of the primates of Bulgaria given by Ducange,
Fam. Aug, Byz, 175. The patriarchal dignity in Bulgaria was abolished by John
I. (Zimiskes), when he conquered the country in 972. The Greek writers err,
therefore, when they assert that the head of the Bulgarian church was never offici-
ally recognized as a patriapch by the church of Constantinople. Le Quien, Oriens
Chriitianus (i. 1237, and ii. 287), and Neale's History of the Holy Eastem'Church
(voL 1. p. 44), afford no information on this curious question. The Bulgarian
church Deaime again independent under Samuel, when the Archbishop of
Justiniana Prima transferred his residence from Skopia to Achrida and assumed
the authority and rank of patriarch of the Bulgarian church. [This point has
assumed considerable practical importance since 1861, when the agitation com-
menced on the part of the Bulgarian church to free themselves from the jurisdiction
of the Patriarch of Constantinople. £0.]
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completely destroyed, tKat, seven years after the retreat of
the invaders, only fifty men were found in its vicinity, living
as hunters ^ At last the Bulgarian army was completely
defeated by the Croatiails, whom the cruelty of Simeon had
driven to despair. Simeon died shortly after, and Servia
placed itself under the protection of the Byzantine govern-
ment.
Bulgaria was formidable at this time by the talents of
Simeon rather than its own power. It was now threatened
with invasion by the Magyars, who were carrying on plun-
dering incursions into Germany, Italy, and even into France.
Peter, who succeeded his father Simeon, was anxious to
secure his southern frontier by forming a close union with
the empire : he married Maria, the daughter of the Emperor
Christophoros, and a long i>eace followed tliis alliance. But
the ties of allegiance were not very powerful among the
Bulgarian people, and a rebellion was headed by Michael
the brother of Peter. The rebels maintained themselves in
a state of independence after Michael's death; and when
they were at last compelled to emigrate, they entered the
territory of the empire, and, passing through the themes of
Strymon, Thessalonica, and Hellas, seized on Nicopolis, and
retained possession of that city and the surrounding country
for some time. It seems that the incursion of Sclavesians
into the Peloponnesus was connected with this inroad of the
Bulgarians*.
Thrace had not enjoyed sufficient respite from the ravages
of the Bulgarians to recover its losses, before it was plundered
by the Hungarians, who advanced to the walls of Constan-
tinople in 934*. The retreat of these barbarians was pur-
chased by a laige sum of money, paid in the Byzantine gold
coinage, which was then the most esteemed currency through-
out the known world. In 943, the Hungarians again ravaged
Thrace, and their retreat was again purchased with gold*.
* Servia was ravaged in 927. Constant. Porphyr. /)« Adm, Imp. c 3a. We
may compare the way in which Simeon laid waste and depopulated Servia with
that in which William the Conqueror treated Northumberland from policy, and
the New Forest for amusement. Hume, Hist, 0/ England, c iv.
* Cedrenus, 6a8 ; m« above, p. 304.
" Contin. a6a ; Symeon Mag. 488 ; Georg. Mon. 588 ; Leo Gramm. 506.
* A Hungarian prince named Bulograd visited Constantinople about 950, and
was baptized. He was subsequently taken prisoner while engaged plundering in
Germany, and hung by the Emperor Otho. Cedrenus, 636; Kn^i 264.
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AJ». 945-963]
The last year of the reign of Coriistantine VII. was again
marked by an invasion of the Hungarians, who approached
Constantinople ; but on this occasion they were defeated by
the imperial troops, who attacked their camp during the
night ^.
The Byzantine wars in Italy present a series of vicissitudes
connected with political intrigues, based on no national object,
and leading to no general result. The imperial governors
at times united with the Saracens to plunder the Italians, and
at times aided the Italians to oppose the Saracens ; some-
times they accumulated treasures for themselves, and at others
extended the influence of the emperor. One of the Byzantine
governors, named Krinitas, carried his avarice so far as to
compel the people of Calabria (Apulia) to sell their grain at
a low price, and then, having created a monopoly of the
export trade in his own favour, sold it at an exorbitant profit
to the Saracens of Africa. Constantine VII., hearing of this
extortion, dismissed him from all employment, and confiscated
his wealth ; but the people who were governed by deputies pos-
sessing such powers were sure to be the victims of oppression ^.
During the r^ency of Zoe (a.d. 915), Eustathios, the
governor of Calabria, concluded a treaty with the caliph of
Africa, by which the Byzantine authorities in Italy were
bound to pay a yearly tribute of 2iJ,ooo gold byzants, and
the caliph engaged to restrain the hostilities of the Saracens
of Sicily. This tribute was subsequently reduced to 11,000
byzants, but the treaty remained in force until the reign of
the Emperor Nicephorus 11.^ Even this distant province in
the south of Italy was not safe from the plundering incursions
of the Hungarians, who in the year 948 embarked on the
Adriatic, and ravaged Apulia under the walls of Otranto.
The general interests of Christianity, as well as the extent
of Byzantine commerce, induced the Byzantine government
to aid Hugh of Provence and the Genoese in destroying the
nest of Saracen pirates established at Fraxinet, in the Alps,
to the eastward of Nice*
Romanus II. was only twenty-one years of age when he
ascended the throne. He bore a strong resemblance to his
' Contin. a88; Symeon Mag. 496. * Cedrcnus, 65 a.
' CedrenaSi 653. f Muratori, Annoli cTIialia, v. 319.
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[6k.n.Ch.I.$4.
father in person, and possessed much of his good-nature and
mildness of disposition, but he was of a more active and
determined character. Unfortunately, he indulged in every
species of pleasure with an eagerness that ruined his health
and reputation, though his judicious selection of ministers
prevented its injuring the empire. He was blamed for in-
humanity, in compelling his sisters to enter a monastery; but
as his object was a political one, in order to prevent their
marriage, he was satisfied with their taking the veil, though
they refused to wear the monastic dress ; and he allowed
them to live as they thought fit, and dispose of their own
private fortunes at will. His own object was obtained if he
prevented any of the ambitious nobles from forming an
alliance with them, which would have endangered the here-
ditary right of his own children. His good-nature is avouched
by the fact, that when Basilios — called the Bird, a favourite
minister of his father — engaged a number of patricians in
a conspiracy to seize the throne, he allowed none of the
conspirators to be put to death. Though he spent too much
of his time surrounded by actors and dancers, both the
administration of civil and military affairs was well conducted
during his reign. His. greatest delight was in hunting, and
he spent much of his time in the country surrounded by his
gay companions, his horses, and his dogs. His excesses in
pleasure and fatigue soon ruined his constitution ; but when
he died at the age of twenty-four, the people, who remembered
his tall well-made figure and smiling countenance, attributed
his death to poison. His wife, whose beauty and graceful
manner never won the public to pardon a low alliance, which
appeared to their prejudices to disgrace the majesty of the
purple, was accused of this crime, as well as of having insti-
gated the death of her father-in-law^. Romanus on his
death-bed did not n^lect his duty to the empire. He had
observed that his able prime-minister, Joseph Bringas, had
begun to manifest too great jealousy of Nicephorus Phokas ;
he therefore left it as his dying injunction that Nicephorus
should not be removed from the command of the army em-
ployed against the Saracens.
Joseph Bringas, who conducted the administration during
' Leo DiacoDus, 31, edit. Bonn.
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AJ>. 945-9^3.]
the reign of Romanus II., was a man of talent and int^^ty.
His worst act, in the eyes of his contemporaries, was, that he
withdrew an eunuch, named John Cherinas, from a monastery
into which he had been exiled by Constantine VII., and
conferred on him the dignity of patrician, with the command
of the foreign guards. The patriarch protested in vain against
this act of sacril^e ; Bringas wanted a man to command the
guard, over whom he knew the leading nobles could exercise
no influence ; so the monk quitted his frock, put on armour,
and became a leading man at court. Sisinios, one of the
ablest and most upright men in the public service, was made
prefect of Constantinople, and rendered the administration of
justice prompt and equitable. A general scarcity tried the
talents and firmness of Bringas, and he met the difficulty by
great exertions, though it occurred at a time when it was
necessary to make extraordinary preparations to provision
the expedition against Crete. Every measure to alleviate the
public distress was taken in a disinterested spirit. Every-
thing required for the army was immediately paid for; to
prevent speculation in com, the exportation of provisions
from the capital was prohibited— a law which may often be
rendered necessary as a temporary measure of police, though
it is a direct violation of the permanent principles of sound
commercial policy.
The great event of the reign of Romanus II. was the
conquest of Crete. The injury inflicted on Byzantine com-
merce by the Saracen corsairs, fitted out in the numerous ports
on the north side of that island, compelled the inhabitants of
many of the islands of the Archipelago to purchase protection
from the rulers of Crete by the payment of a regular tribute.
The trade of Constantinople and its supplies of provisions
were constantly interrupted, yet several expeditions against
Crete, fitted out on the lai^est scale, had been defeated.
The overthrow of that undertaken in the reign of Leo VI.
has been noticed ^. Romanus I. was unwilling to revive the
memory of his share in that disaster, and left the Cretans
undisturbed during his reign ; but Constantine VII., towards
the end of his reign, prepared an expedition on a very grand
scale, the command of which he intrusted to an eunuch named
* Sec p. 378.
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[Bk.II.Cfa.L§4-
Gongyles. This expedition was completely defeated ; the
Byzantine camp was taken, and the greater part of the force
destroyed. Gongyles himself escaped with difficulty ^
Romanus was hardly seated on the throne before he
resolved to wipe off" the disgrace the empire had suffered.
The only mode of protecting the commerce of the capital
and the coasts of Greece was to conquer the island of Crete
and expel the Saracen population. Romanus fitted out an
expedition on a scale suitable for this undertaking, and
entrusted its command to Nicephorus Phokas, a general
equal to the enterprise. Bringas aided the emperor with
zeaKand energy, and gave no countenance to the endeavours
that some courtiers made to awaken the jealousy of Romanus,
that too much glory might accrue to Nicephorus from the
successful termination of so great an undertaking.
The expedition was strong in numbers and complete in its
equipments. The fleet consisted of dromons and chelands.
The dromon was the war-galley, which had taken the place
of the triremes of the ancient Greeks and the quinqueremes of
the Romans ; it had only two tiers of rowers, and the largest
carried three hundred men, of whom seventy were marine
soldiers. The chelands were smaller and lighter vessels,
adapted for rapid movements, fitted with tubes for launching
Greek fire, and their crews varied from \%o to i6o men.
More than three hundred large transports attended the ships
of war, freighted with military machines and stores ^. We are
not to suppose that the dromons and chelands were all fitted
for war ; a few only were required for that purpose, and the
rest served as transports for the army and the provisions
necessary for a winter campaign. The land forces consisted
of chosen troops from the l^ons of Asia and Europe, with
Armenian, Sclavonian, and Russian auxiliaries. The port
of Phygela, near Ephesus, served as the place of rendezvous
for the ships collected from the coasts of Greece and the
islands of the Aegean ^. Everything was ready in the month
^ Leo Diaconus, 6, edit. Bonn; Cedrenus, 640; Zonaras, ii. 195; Constant
Porphyr. De Caerem. Aulae Byz. ii. c. 45 ; vol. i. 664, edit. Bonn ; Krug, 293.
' Symeon Mag. (498) gives us the enumeration of the vessels composing die
expedition. He says there were a thousand dromons, two thousand chelandia,
and three hundred and sixty transports, and he is an author deserving attention.
Our admiralty built at one time a dass of ships called donkey frigates ; perhaps
Uie Byzantine government was no better advised.
' Strabo calU it Pygela, xiv. p.'639 ; Contin. 397 ; Symeon Mag. 498.
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of July 960, and Nicephorus disembarked his troops in Crete
without sustaining any loss, though the Saracens attempted to
oppose the operation. The city of Chandax was prepared to
defend itself to the last extremity, and the Mohammedans in
the rest of the island were active in resisting the progress of
the Byzantine troops, and preventing their deriving any
supplies from the interior. Chandax was too strongly forti-
fied to be taken without a regular siege, so that the first
operation of Nicephorus was to invest it in form. To insure
the fall of the place even at the risk of prolonging the siege,
he b^an his operations by forming a complete circumvalla-
tion round his camp and naval station, which he connected
with the sea on both sides of the city, and thus cut off the
besieged from all communication with the Saracens in the
country. The pirates of Chandax had often been at war with
all the world, and they had fortified their stronghold in such
a way that it could be defended with a small garrison, while
the bulk of their forces were cruising in search of plunder.
The repeated attacks of the Byzantine emperors had also
warned them of the dangers to which they were exposed.
Towards the land, a high wall protected the city; it was
composed of sun-dried bricks, but the mortar of which they
were formed had been kneaded with the hair of goats and
swine into a mass almost as hard as stone, and it was so
broad that two chariots could drive abreast on its summit.
A double ditch of great depth and breadth strengthened the
work, and rendered approach difficult.
One of the parties sent out by Nicephorus to complete the
conquest of the island having been cut off, he was compelled
to take the field in person as soon as he had completed his
arrangements for blockading the fortress during the winter.
The Saracens, encouraged by their success, assembled an
army, and proposed attempting to relieve the besieged city,
when they were attacked in their position, and routed with
great loss. The Byzantine general, in order to intimidate the
defenders of Chandax, ordered the heads of those slain in the
country to be brought to the camp, stimulating the activity
of his soldiers in this barbarous service by paying a piece of
silver for every head. They were then ranged on spears
along the whole line of the circumvallation towards the
fortifications of the city ; and the number of slain was so
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[Bk. n. Ch. L ( 4.
great, that many more were cast into the place by means of
catapults, in order to let the besi^ed see the full extent of
the loss of their countrymen.
A strict blockade was maintained during the whole winter.
When the weather permitted, light galleys cruised before the
port, and at all times several of the swiftest dromons and
chelands were kept ready to pursue any vessel that might
either attempt to enter or quit the port. But though the
Saracens were reduced to great privations, they showed no dis-
position to surrender, and Nicephorus pressed on the siege as
spring advanced with mines and battering-rams. At last a
practicable breach was effected, and the place was taken by
storm on the 7th of May 961 ^. The accumulated wealth of
many years of successful piracy was abandoned to the troops,
but a rich booty and numerous slaves were carried to Con-
stantinople, and shown in triumph to the people.
To complete the conquest of the island, it was necessary to
exterminate the whole of the Saracen population. To effect
this, the fortifications of Chandax were levelled with the
ground, and a new fortress called Temenos, situated on a high
and rugged hill, about twelve miles inland, was constructed
and garrisoned by a body of Byzantine and Armenian troops*.
Many Saracens, however, remained in the island, but they
were reduced to a state approaching servitude. The greater
part of the Greek population in some parts of the island had
embraced Mohammedanism during the 135 years of Saracen
domination. When the island was reconquered, an Armenian
monk named Nikon became a missionary to these infidels,
and he had the honour of converting numbers of the Cretans
back to Christianity ^ As soon as the conquest of the island
was completed, the greater part of the army was ordered to
* Leo Diaconus, 11, e<3it. Bonn. The name Chandax was corrupted into
Candia, and extended to the whole island, by the Venetians. [The name of
Candia, however, was never used in Crete for the island, and at the present day it
is never heard at all, the city of Candia being called Megalo-Castron, or more
familiarly ' the Castron,* though a few persons of the upper class prefer to call it
Heracleion, using the name of the ancient dty, which occupied the site and was
the port of Cnossus. Ed.]
* [Temenos is placed by Pashley (7Vaw/s in Crete, i. 232) on a steep height
called Rhoka, to the south-west of the conspicuous Mount luktas, where was
•the sepulchre of Zeus.* It became celebrated in the Venetian history of the
island, as the place of refuge of the Duke of Candia, when Marco Sanudo, the
Duke of Naxos, rebelled against Venice, and obtained possession of the principal
cities of Crete. Ed.]
> Baronius, Annal. Eceles, a.d. 961 ; F. Cornelius, Cnta Sacra, i. 206; ii. 340.
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CONDITION OF GREECE.
A.D. 945-963.]
Asia Minor ; but Nicephorus was invited by the emperor v
visit Constantinople, where he was allowed the honour of a
triumph. He brought Kurup, the Saracen emir of Crete, a
prisoner in his train ^
We may here pause to take a cursory view, of the state of
Greece during the ninth and tenth centuries. The preceding
pages have noticed the few facts concerning the fortunes of
this once glorious land that are preserved in the Byzantine
annals, but these facts are of themselves insufficient to explain
how a people, whose language and literature occupied a pre-
dominant position in society, enjoyed neither political power
nor moral pre-eminence as a nation. The literary instruction
of every child in the empire who received any intellectual
culture was thoroughly Greek : its first prayers were uttered
in that language ; its feelings were refined by the perusal of
the choicest passages of the Greek poets and tragedians, and
its intellect enlarged by the study of the Greek historians and
philosophers; but here the influence ended, for the moral
education of the citizen was purely Roman. The slightest
glance into history proves that the educated classes in the
Byzantine empire were generally destitute of all sympathy
with Greece, and looked down on the Greeks as a provincial
and alien race. The fathers of the church and the eccle-
siastical historians, whose works were carefully studied, to
complete the education of the Byzantine youth, and to
prepare them for public life, quickly banished all Hellenic
fancies as mere schoolboy dreams, and turned the attention to
the atmosphere of practical existence in church and state.
Byzantine society was a development of Roman civilization,
and hence the Byzantine mind was practical and positive :
administration and law were to it what liberty and philosophy
had been to the Hellenes of old. The imagination and the
taste of Hellas had something in their natural superiority that
was repulsive to Byzantine pedantry, while the paganism of
classic literature excited the contempt of ecclesiastical bigots.
A strong mental difference was therefore the cause of the
* Leo Diaconus, 28, 420, edit. Bonn; King, 314. There is a contemporary
poem in five cantos (acroases) on the conquest of Crete, by Theodosius, a deacon,
which gives a tolerably correct, though not a very poetical, picture of the war.
It was published in the Creta Sacra of Cornelius, and is reprinted in the volume
that contains Leo Diaconus in the Bonn edition of the Corpus Scriptorum Historia9
ByzanHnat,
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f>%0 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.Ch.I.54.
aversion to Greece and the Greeks that is apparent in
Byzantine society, and its operation is equally visible in the
Hellenic race. The spirit of local patriotism which has
always been powerful among the Greeks kept them aloof from
the Byzantine service, so that they really occupy a less
prominent figure in the history of the empire than they were
entitled to claim.
The great social feature of the Hellenic race, during the
ninth and tenth centuries, is its stationary condition. The
eighth century was unquestionably a period of great activity,
increase, and improvement among the European Greeks, as
among every other portion of the population of the Eastern
Empire. But after the subjection of the Sclavonian colonists
in the first years of the ninth century, and the re-establish-
ment of extensive commercial relations over the whole
Mediterranean, Greek society again relapsed into a stationary
condition. There is no doubt that the general aspect of the
country had undei^one a total change; and its condition
in the tenth century was very different from its condition
in the seventh. Hellenic traditions were lost; the classic
names of mountains, rivers and memorable sites were for-
gotten : ancient cities disappeared and their names were
buried in oblivion, and new cities with names unknown in
ancient Greece arose ^
The legendary history of the Greek monasteries tells us
that the country was once utterly deserted, that the rugged
limestone mountains were overgrown with forests and thick
brushwood, and that into these deserted spots holy hermits
retired to avoid the presence of pagan Sclavonians, who occu-
pied the rich plains and pastoral slopes of the lower hills. In
these retreats the holy anchorites dreamed that they were
dwelling in cells once occupied by saints of an earlier day —
men who were supposed to have fled from imaginary per-
secutions of Roman emperors, who had depopulated whole
provinces by their hatred to Christianity, instead of by admi-
nistrative oppression ; and the hermits saw visions revealing
where these predecessors had concealed portraits painted by
St. Luke himself, or miraculous pictures, the work of no
* Of these, some were constructed on ancient sites, others replaced neigh-
bouring ancient cities, like Monemvasia, Piada, Nikli, Veligosti, Andravida, ^and
Arkadia.
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CONDITION OF GREECE. 3^1
AJ>. 945-963.]
human hand. Such is perhaps a not unapt representation
of a large part of the rural districts of Greece during the
seventh century. The immense extent of the private estates
of a few rich individuals, from the time of Augustus to that of
Leo the Philosopher, left whole provinces depopulated, and fit
only to be used as pasture. Fiscal oppression, privileged
landlords, serfdom, robbery, piracy and slavery, all conspired
to degrade and depopulate Greece before the Sclavonians
colonized her 6oil.
The vigorous administration of the Iconoclasts restored
order, subdued the Sclavonians, and revived industry and
commerce. The state of Greece was again changed, the
Greek population increased as if it had consisted of new
colonists settled on a virgin soil, and from the end of the
ninth century to the invasion of the Crusaders, Greece was
a rich and flourishing province. The material causes of this
wealth are as evident as the moral causes of its political
insignificance. The great part of the commerce of the Medi-
terranean was in the hands of the Greeks ; the wealth of the
Byzantine empire placed ample capital at their command ;
the silk manufacture was to Thebes and Athens what the
cotton manufacture now is to Manchester and Glasgow;
Monemvasia was then what Venice became at a later period ;
the slave-trade, though it filled the world with misery and
Christian society with demoralization, brought wealth to the
shores of Greece. The mass of the agricultural population,
too, enjoyed as much prosperity as the commercial. The
produce of the country was abundant, and labour bore a far
higher price than has ever been the case in western Europe.
This was a natural result of the state of things in the vicinity
of every town and village in Greece. The nature of all the
most valuable produce of the land rendered the demand for
labour at particular seasons very great; and this labo ir
yield^sL immense profits, for it fructified olive-groves, vine-
yards, and orchards of the chdcest kinds, formed by the
accumulated capital of ages. The labour of a few days
created an amount of produce which bore no comparison
with its cost, and Greece at this time possessed a monopoly
of the finer kinds of oil, wine, and fruit. Moreover, the
pastoral habits of the Sclavonians, who still occupied large
provinces at a distance from the principal towns, prevented
VOL. II. Y
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322 BASIL/AN DYNASTY.
the cultivation of corn over a great extent of country; and
the ruin of the excellent roads, which in ancient times had
admitted of the transport of huge blocks of marble, and the
march of armies accompanied by elephants over the roughest
mountains, rendered the transport of grain to any considerable
distance impossible. All these circumstances rendered labour
valuable. The cultivation of grain by spade husbandry was
often a matter of necessity, so that the agricultural labourer
could easily maintain a position of comparative ease and
abundance.
In this state of society, the only chance of improvement
lay in the moral advancement of the citizen, which was only
attainable by the union of free local institutions with a well-
organized central administration, and a judicial system over
which the highest political power could exert no influence.
Unfortunately no central government on the continent of
Europe, which has possessed strength sufficient to repress
local selfishness and the undue power of privileged classes,
has ever yet avoided fiscal oppression ; and this was the case
in the Byzantine empire. The social condition of the Greeks
nourished intense local selfishness ; the exigencies of the
Byzantine government led to severe fiscal exactions. The
result of the political and financial, as well as of the moral
state of the country, was to produce a stationary condition of
society. Taxation absorbed all the annual profits of industry;
society offered no invitation to form new plantations, or extend
existing manufactures, and the age afforded no openings for
new enterprises ; each generation moved exactly in the limits
of that which had preceded it, so that Greece, though in a
state of material prosperity, was standing on the brink of
decline. That decline commenced the moment the Italians
were enabled to avail themselves of the natural resources of
their country. Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, freed from
the fiscal oppression of a central government, became first the
rivals and then the superiors of the Greeks in commerce,
industry, and wealth.
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CHAPTER II.
Period of Conquest and Military Glory.
A.D. 963-10^^5.
Sect. I. — Reigns of Nicephorus II. {Pkokas\ and John L
{Zimiskes), A.D. 963-976.
Administration of Joseph Bringas. — Character of Nicephorus II., 963 -969. — Public
administration.— Saracen war. — Affairs in Sicily, Italy, and Bulgaria. — Assas-
sination of Nicephorus II. — Character of John I.. 969-976. — Coronation. —
Rebellions of the family of Nicephorus II. (Phokas), — Russian war. — Republic
of Cherson. — Saracen war. — Death of John I.
The Empress Theophano was left by Romanus II. regent
for her sons, but as she was brought to bed of a daughter
only two days before her husband's death, the whole direction
of public business remained in the hands of Joseph Bringas,
whose ability was universally acknowledged, but whose
severity and suspicious character rendered him generally
unpopular. His jealousy soon involved him in a contest
for power with Nicephorus Phokas, who did not venture to
visit Constantinople until his personal safety was guaranteed
by the Empress Theophano and the Patriarch Polyeuktes.
Nicephorus was allowed to celebrate his victories in Syria
by a triumph, in which he displayed to a superstitious crowd
the relics he had obtained by his victories over the Moham-
medans; and the piety of the age attached as much
importance to these as his troops did to the booty and
slaves with which they were enriched ^ Bringas saw that
1 Cedrenus, 646; Zonaras, ii. 198.
va
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3^4 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.Ch.II.$i.
the popularity of Nicephorus and the powerful influence of
his family connections must soon gain him the title of Em-
peror, and his jealousy appears to have precipitated the event
he feared. He formed a plot to have the victorious general
seized, in order that his eyes might be put out. Nicephorus
being informed of his danger, and having secured the support
of the Patriarch by his devout conduct, persuaded Polyeuktes
to take prompt measures to protect him from the designs of
Bringas. The senate was convoked, and the Patriarch pro-
posed that Nicephorus should be intrusted with the command
of the army in Asia, according to the last will of Romanus
II ^. Bringas did not venture to oppose this proposal of the
Patriarch, which was eagerly adopted ; and Nicephorus, after
taking an oath never to injure the children of Romanus, his
lawful sovereigns, placed himself at the head of the Byzantine
forces in Asia.
Bringas still pursued his schemes; he wrote to John
Zimiskes, the ablest and most popular of the generals under
the orders of Nicephorus, offering him the supreme command
if he would seize the general-in-chief, and send him to
Constantinople as a prisoner. Zimiskes was the nephew
of Nicephorus; but his subsequent conduct shows that
conscience would not have arrested him in the execution of
any project for his own aggrandizement. On the present
occasion, he may have thought that the power of Bringas
was not likely to be permanent, and he may have expected
little gratitude for any service ; while the popularity of
Nicephorus with the troops made fidelity to his general
the soundest policy. Zimiskes carried the letter of the
prime-minister to Nicephorus, and invited him to assume
the imperial title, as the only means of securing his own
life and protecting his friends. It is said that John Zimiskes
and Romanus Kurkuas were compelled to draw their swords,
and threaten to kill their uncle, before he would allow himself
to be proclaimed emperor. The same thing had been said
of Leo V. (the Armenian), who it was believed had been
compelled to mount the throne by his murderer and suc-
cessor, Michael II 2. Nicephorus yielded, and marched imme-
diately from Caesarea to Chrysopolis, where he encamped.
* Leo Diaconus, 34, edit. Bonn.
* Leo Diaconus, 38,. edit. Bonn; Zonaras, ii. 198; iee above, p. 124.
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AJ). 963-976.]
Bringas found little support in the capital. Basilios, the
natural son of the Emperor Romanus I., armed his house-
hold, in which he had three thousand slaves, and exciting
a sedition of the populace, sallied into the streets of
Constantinople, and attacked the houses of the ministers,
most of whom were compelled to seek an asylum in the
churches ^ Nicephorus was invited to enter the capital,
where he was crowned by the Patriarch Polyeuktes, in
St. Sophia's, on the i6th of August 963 *.
The family of Phokas was of Cappadocian origin, and had
for three generations supplied the empire with distinguished
generals^. Nicephorus proved an able emperor, and a
faithful guardian of the young emperors; but his personal
bearing was tinged with military severity, and his cold
phl^rixiatic temper prevented his using the arts necessary
to gain popularity either with the courtiers or the citizens.
His conduct was moral, and he was sincerely religious ; but
he was too enlightened to confound the pretensions of the
church with the truth of Christianity, and, consequently,
in spite of his real piety, he was calumniated by the clergy
as a hypocrite*. Indeed, it would have been exceedingly
difficult for a strict military disciplinarian, who succeeded a
young and gay monarch like Romanus IL, to render himself
popular on a throne, which he ascended at the mature age
of fifty-one.
^ Basilios was the son of a Sclavonian woman ; like many eminent men of his
time, he was an eunuch. Leo Diaconus, 94.
* Leo Diaconus, 48.
* Luitprand. 347 ; Cedrenus, 737.
* Nicephorus sent a hundred pounds* weight of gold from the spoils of Crete
to found the monastery of the great Laura on Mount Athos, to which it was said
he proposed to retire ; and St. Athanasios, a monk whom he charged with this
commission, became afterwards indignant when Nicephorus put a crown on his
head in place of shaving it. The fanatic thought that he should have preferred
the idle life of a cell to the active duties of a palace. Leo Diaconus, edit. Bonn,
«o/«, 436. St. Athanasios reorganized the monastic communities of Mount Athos
between a.d. 959-969. Montfaucon, Palaeographia Graeca, 453-454. [St. Atha-
nasius was ^ man of noble birth in Trebizond, and was educated at Constanti-
nople; he subsequently devoted himself with great zeal to the monastic life. He
had predicted to the Emperor Nicephorus that he would repulse the Saracens,
and It was for this reason that that conmiander (it was before he came to the
throne) sent him the money to assist in founding the monastery. See the passage
from an unpublished MS., quoted by Hase in his notes to Leo Diaconus. vbi supra.
One prominent feature in his reoi^anization of the monastic communities on Athos
was the establishment of the office of • First Man.* a sort of president, intended
to combine and regulate the scattered societies. Gass, De Claustris in Monte Atko
utU, p. 9. Ed.]
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3^6 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.II.ClLlI.$f.
The coronation of Nicephorus was soon followed by his
marriage with Theophano, a match which must have been
dictated to the beautiful widow by ambition and policy
rather than love; though the Byzantine writers accuse her
of a previous intrigue with the veteran general, and record
that she exerted great authority over him, by her persuasive
manners. The marriage ceremony was performed by the
Patriarch, but shortly after its celebration he forbade the
emperor to enter the chancel of St. Sophia's, where the
imperial throne was placed, declaring that even the emperor
must submit to the penance imposed by the orthodox church
on second marriages, which excluded the contracting party
from the body of the church for a year. The hostile feeling,
on the part of Polyeuktes, that produced this act of authority
encouraged a report that Nicephorus had acted as godfather
to one of the children of Romanus and Theophano — a
connection which, according to the Greek church, forms an
impediment to marriage \ The Patriarch appears to have
adopted this report without consideration, and threatened
to declare the marriage he had celebrated null ; he had
even the boldness to order the emperor to separate from
Theophano immediately. But this difficulty was removed
by the chaplain who had officiated at the baptism. He
came forward, and declared on oath that Nicephorus had
not been present, nor had he, the priest, ever said so.
The Patriarch found himself compelled to withdraw his
opposition, and, to cover his defeat, he allowed Nicephorus
to enter the church without remark. This dispute left a
feeling of irritation on the mind of the emperor, and was
probably the cause of some of his severities to the clergy,
while it certainly assisted in rendering him unpopular among
his bigoted subjects.
Nicephorus had devoted great attention to improving the
discipline of the Byzantine army, and, as it consisted in
great part of mercenaries, this could only be done by a
liberal expenditure. His chief object was to obtain troops
of the best quality, and all the measures of his civil
administration were directed to fill the treasury. An efficient
army was the chief support of the empire ; and it seemed,
* Zonaras, note of Ducange, ii. 87.
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UNPOPULARITY OF NICEPHORUS. 327
A.D. 963-976.]
therefore, to Nicephorus that the first duty of an emperor
was to secure the means of maintaining a numerous and
well-appointed military force. Perhaps the people of Con-
stantinople would have applauded his maxims and his
conduct, had he been more liberal in lavishing the wealth
he extorted from the provinces on festivals and shows in
the capital. A severe famine, at the commencement of his
reign, increased his unpopularity. This scarcity commenced
in the reign of Romanus II., and, among the reports cir-
culated against Joseph Bringas, it was related that he had
threatened to raise the price of wheat so high, that, for a
piece of gold, a man should only purchase as much as he
could carry away in his pockets. It is very probable that
the measures adopted by Nicephorus tended to increase
the evil, though Zonaras, in saying that he allowed each
merchant to use his own interest as a law, would lead us
to infer that he abolished monopolies and maximums, and
left the trade in grain free\ The fiscal measures of his
reign, however, increased the burden of taxation. He re-
trenched the annual largesses of the court, and curtailed
the pensions granted to courtiers. The worst act of his
reign, and one for which the Byzantine historians have justly
branded him with merited odium, was his violation of the
public faith, and the honour of the Eastern Empire, by
adulterating the coin, and issuing a debased coin, called
the tetarteron. This debased money he employed to pay
the debts of the state, while the taxes continued to be
exacted in the older and purer coinage of the empire. It
must always be borne in mind, that the legal standard of
the mint in the Eastern Empire remained invariable until
the taking of Constantinople by the Crusaders. The gold
coins of Leo III. and of Isaac II. are of the same weight
and purity ; and the few emperors who disgraced their reigns
by tampering with the currency have been branded with
infamy. Perhaps there is no better proof of the high state
of political civilization in Byzantine society^. But the
' Zonaras, ii. 203-306 ; Cedrenus, 660. The price of a modius of wheat hav'ng
risen to a nomisma (that is, a bushel for eleven shillings), the emperor sold it
from the public granaries at half that price ; yet the people grumbled, because
it was said Basil I. had. on some occasion, ordered wheat to be sold at the rate
of twelve modii for a gold nomisma.
' Zonaras, il. 303 ; Cedrenus, 658.
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328 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.lI.Ch.II.§i.
dissatisfaction against Nicephorus was ripened into personal
animosity by an accidental tumult in the hippodrome, ia
which many persons lost their lives. It happened that,
while the troops were going through the evolutions of a
sham-fight, a report arose that the emperor intended to
punish the people, who had thrown stones at him, and in-
sulted him as he passed through the streets. This caused a
rush out of the enclosures, and many persons, men, women,
and children, perished. The citizens, of course, insisted that
the massacre was premeditated \
The whole reign of Nicephorus was disturbed by the ill-will
of the clergy, and one of his wisest measures met with the
most determined opposition. In order to render the military
service more popular among his native subjects, and prevent
the veterans from quitting the army under the influence of
religious feelings distorted by superstition, he wished the
clergy to declare that all Christians who perished in war
against the Saracens were martyrs in the cause of religion.
But the Patriarch, who was more of a churchman than a
patriot, considered it greater gain to the clei^ to retain
the power of granting absolutions, than to enlist a new
army of martyrs in the service of the church; and he
appealed to the canons of St. Basil to prove that all war
was contrary to Christian discipline, and that a Christian
who killed an enemy, even in war with the Infidels, ought
to be excluded from participating in the holy sacrament
for three years. With a priesthood supporting such religious -
opinions, the Byzantine empire had need of an admirable
system of administration, and a series of braye and warlike
emperors, to perpetuate its long existence^. In the first
year of his reign, Nicephorus endeavoured to restrain the
passion for founding monasteries that then reigned almost
universally. Many converted their family residences into
monastic buildings, in order to die as monks, without changing
their habits of life. The emperor prohibited the foundation
of any new monasteries and hospitals, enacting that only
those already in existence should be maintained ; and he
* Leo Diaconus witnessed the insults Nicephoras bore, and admired his
equanimity; but a woman was burnt for throwing a stone at him: p. 65; Zo-
naras, ii. 203.
« Zonaras, ii. 203 ; Cedrenus, 658.
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ECCLESIASTICAL MEASURES, 329
declared all testamentary donations of landed property in
favour of the church void\ He also excited the anger of
the clergy, by forbidding any ecclesiastical election to be
made until the candidate had received the imperial approba-
tion. He was in the habit of leaving the wealthiest sees
vacant and retaining their revenues, or, if the see was filled,
of compelling the new bishop to pay a large portion of his
receipts annually into the imperial treasury 2.
Nicephorus was so well aware of his unpopularity, that he
converted the great palace into a citadel, which he made
capable of defence with a small garrison. As the army was
devoted to him, he knew that beyond the walls of Constanti-
nople he was in no danger. In estimating the character and
conduct of Nicephorus H., we must not forget that his
enemies have drawn his portrait, and that, unfortunately
for his reputation, modern historians have generally attached
more credit to the splenetic account of the Byzantine court
by Luitprand, the bishop of Cremona, than it is entitled to
receive. Luitprand visited Constantinople as ambassador
from the German emperor, Otho the Great, to negotiate a
marriage between young Otho and Theophano, the step-
daughter of Nicephorus. Otho expected that the Byzantine
emperor would cede his possessions in southern Italy as the
dowry of the princess; Nicephorus expected the German
emperor would yield up the suzerainty over Beneventum
and Capua for the honour of the alliance. As might be
expected, from the pride of both parties, the ambassador
failed in. his mission; but he revenged himself by libelling
Nicephorus ; and his picture of the arrogance and suspicious
policy of the Byzantine court in its intercourse with foreigners
gives his libel some value, and serves as an apology for his
virulence ^
• The Novellae of Nicq>horus ; Leo Diaconus, 309, edit. Bonn.
• Luitprand; Leo Diaconus, 371.
• The value of the bishop's evidence as an a{fT6vTrj$ may be estimated from
his saying that Bardas, the father of Nicephorus, appeared to be a hundred and
fifty years old. Luitprand had visited Constantinople in 948, as ambassador of
Bcrengcr. with a present of eunuchs, which Verdun then exported. He then saw
the singing tree, the lions of metal that roared, and the eagle that flapped its
wings. Luitprand, Hist, lib. vL cap. i ; Daru, Histoin dt V4ms§^ i. 93. The
account of Luitprand's embassy to Nicephorus is in Muratori, Script, Rer. ItaJ,
torn. ii. 479 ; and in the volume of the Byzantine Collection published at Bonn,
which contains Leo Diaconus.
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330 BASILIAN DYNASTY.
[Bk.n.cb.n.§i.
The darling object of Nicephorus was to break the power of
the Saracens, and extend the frontiers of the empire in Syria
and Mesopotamia. In the spring of 964, he assembled an
army against Tarsus, which was the fortress that covered the
Syrian frontier. The river Cydnus flowed through the city,
dividing it into two portions, which were united by three
bridges. The place was populous, well fortified, and amply
supplied with every means of defence, so that the emperor
was compelled to raise the siege, and lead his army against
Adana, which he took. He then formed the siege of Mop-
suestia, and, employing his men to run a subterraneous
g^lery under the walls, he prevented the besieged from
observing the operation by throwing the earth taken from
the excavation into the Pyramus during the night. When his
mine was completed, the beams which supported the walls
were burned, and as soon as the rampart fell, the Byzantine
army carried the place by storm. Next year (965), Nicephorus
again formed the siege of Tarsus with an army of forty thou-
sand men. The place was inadequately supplied with pro-
visions ; and though the inhabitants were a warlike race, who
had long carried on incursions into the Byzantine territory,
they were compelled to abandon their native city, and retire
into Syria, carrying with them only their personal clothing.
A rich cross, which the Saracens had taken when they
destroyed the Byzantine army under Stypiotes in the year
877, was recovered, and placed in the church of St. Sophia at
Constantinople. The bronze gates of Tarsus and Mopsuestia,
which were of rich workmanship, were also removed, and
placed by Nicephorus in the new citadel he had constructed to
defend the palace^. In the same year Cyprus was recon-
quered by an expedition under the command of the patrician
Niketas.
For two years the emperor was occupied at Constantinople
by the civil administration of the empire, by a threatened
invasion of the Hungarians, and by disputes with the king of
Bulgaria ; but in 968 he again resumed the command of the
army in the East. Early in spring he marched past Antioch
at the head of eighty thousand men, and, without stopping to
besiege that city, he rendered himself master of the fortified
^ Leo Diaconus, 61, edit. Bonn; Zonaras, ii. 201,
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SARACEN WAR. 33 1
AJ). 963-976.]
places in its neighbourhood, in order to cut it off from all relief
from the caliph of Bagdad. He then pushed forward his con-
quests ; Laodicea, Hierapolis, Aleppo, Area, and Emesa were
taken, and Tripolis and Damascus paid tribute to save their
territory from being laid waste. In this campaign many
relics were surrendered by the Mohammedans^. In conse-
quence of the approach of winter, the emperor led his army
into winter-quarters, and deferred forming the siege of Antioch
until the ensuing spring. He left the patrician Burtzes in a
fort on the Black Mountain, with orders to watch the city,
and prevent the inhabitants from collecting provisions and
military stores. The remainder of the army, under the com-
mand of Peter, was stationed in Cilicia ^. As he was anxious
to reserve to himself the glory of restoring Antioch to the
empire, he ordered his lieutenants not to attack the city during
his absence. But a spy informed Burtzes that it was easy to
approach one of the towers of which he had measured the
height, and the temptation to take the place by surprise was
not to be resisted. Accordingly, on a dark winter night, while
there was a heavy fall of snow, Burtzes placed himself at the
head of three hundred chosen men, and gained possession of two
of the towers of Antioch ^ He immediately sent off a courier
requesting Peter to advance and take possession of the city;
but Peter, from fear of the emperof's jealousy, delayed moving
to his assistance for three days. During this interval, how-
ever, Burtzes defended himself against the repeated attacks of
* The roost remarkable of these relics were an old garment and a blocdy tress
of hair, said to have belonged to John the Baptist, and the tile with the miraculous
portrait of our Saviour, which last was taken at Hierapolis. Cedrenus, 656;
^naras, ii. 201. Thb tile was probably an ancient terra-cotta, with a head of
Jupiter resembling the received type of the Saviour. The sword of Mahomet
was also taken in this campaign, for the Mc^ammedans were as much votaries
of relics in this age as the Christians.
■ Peter was an eunuch; he distinguished himself in single combat with a
Russian champion, whom he killed with his lance. Leo Diaconus, 109, edit.
Bonn.
' The towers of Antioch present very much the appearance they did when they
were attacked by Burtzes. * They are about thirty feet square, and project each
way so as to defend the interior side, as well as the exterior face of the wall : the
latter is from fifty to sixty feet high, and eight or ten feet broad at top, which
is covered with cut stones terminated in a cornice. The towers have interior
staircases, and three loop-holed stages resting on brick arches, the uppermost
having a small platform ; and there is a small cistern beneath. Low doors afTotd
a passage along the parapet, so that these structures may be regarded as a chain
of small castles connected by a curtain, rather than as simple toweis.* Colonel
Chesney, Tkt Expedition for the Survey 0/ the rivers Euphrates and Tigris^ voL i.
p. 426.
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33^ BASILIAN DYNASTY,
[Bk.n.ch.n.§i.
the whole population, though with great difficulty. The
Byzantine army at length arrived, and Antioch was annexed
to the empire after having remained 328 years in the power
of the Saracens. The Emperor Nicephorus, instead of re-
warding Burtzes for his energy, dismissed both him and Peter
from their commands ^
The Fatimite caliph Moez reigned at Cairowan, and was
already contemplating the conquest of Egypt. Nicephorus
not only refused to pay him the tribute of eleven thousand
gold byzants, stipulated by Romanus I., but even sent an
expedition to wrest Sicily from the Saracens. The chief
command was intrusted to Niketas, who had conquered
Cyprus ; and the army, consisting chiefly of cavalry, was more
particularly placed under the orders of Manuel Phokas, the
emperor*s cousin, a daring officer ^. The troops were landed
on the eastern coast, and Manuel rashly advanced, until he
was surrounded by the enemy and slain. Niketas also had
made so little preparation to defend his position, that his
camp was stormed, and he himself taken prisoner and sent to
Africa. Nicephorus, who had a great esteem for Niketas in
spite of this defeat, obtained his release by sending to Moez
* [The condition of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine empire in the tenth
century has received an interesting illustration of late by the publication of the
Greek poem of Ai7^vi7« 'AKpira$ by MM. Sathas and Legrand. This poem is
printed fiom an unique MS. existing at Tiebizond, and is the nearest approach
to an epic that the Byzantines have produced. M. Legrand believes it to have
been written in the tenth century, to which period the story certainly belongs,
as the names of the emperors Romanus Lecapenus and Nicephorus Phocas occur
in it. The hero, whose Christian name is Basil, is the son of a Saracenic emir
of Syria, who storms a fortress belonging to a member of the family of the Ducas,
and massacres the occupants with the exception of one daughter, whom he carries
off. Shortly after, her brothers present themselves before the emir and demand
her restitution, but are persuaded to allow him to marry her, when he has re-
nounced Mohammedanism. Basil, the offspring of this union, is called Digenes,
on account of the two antagonistic races which he represents, and Akritas, from
the services which he subsequently rendered to the empire as defender of the
mountain-passes {dxpai) on the frontier. He marries a daughter of another
member of the Ducas family. The story is pervaded throughout by a chivalrous
tone, and commemorates his heroic actions in combating wUd beasts and bands
of outlaws, who are called Apelates, and are brigands of the usual type that infest
the outlying districts of a weak kingdom. There is also an elaborate description
of the palace and gardens which he made for himself on the banks of the
Euphrates. M. Legrand shows that he was a historic personage, and identifies
him with a general called Paiitherios, who commanded the forces of the East
in the course of the tenth century (Introd. p. ci. foil.). The memory of Digenes
has been perpetuated in a variety of ways in the East, and his name is familiar to
readers of the modem Greek ballads, in which his struggle with Charon or Death
is a favourite subject. £d.]
' He was the son of Leo Phokas, the rival of Romanus I.
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the sword of Mahomet, which had fallen into his hands in
Syria. Niketas consoled himself during his captivity by
transcribing the works of St. Basil, and a MS. of his pen-
manship still exists in the National Library at Paris ^
The affairs of Italy were, as usual, embroiled by local causes.
Otho, the emperor of the West, entered Apulia at the head of
an army, and having secured the assistance of Pandulf, prince
of Beneventum, called Ironhead, carried on the war with
frequent vicissitudes of fortune. Ironhead was taken prisoner
by the Byzantine general, and sent captive to Constantinople.
But the tyrannical conduct of the Byzantine officials lost all
that was gained by the superior discipline of the troops, and
favoured the progress of the German arms. The communities
in southern Italy had fallen into such a state of isolation,
that men were more eager to obtain immunity from all
taxation than protection for industry and property, and the
advantages of the Byzantine administration ceased to be
appreciated.
The European provinces of the empire were threatened
with invasion both by the Hungarians and Bulgarians. In
966, Nicephorus was apprised of the intention of the Hun-
garians, and he solicited the assistance of Peter, king of
Bulgaria, to prevent their passing the Danube. Peter refused,
for he had been compelled to conclude a treaty of peace with
the Hungarians, who had invaded Bulgaria a short time
before. It is even said that Peter took advantage of the
difficulty in which Nicephorus was placed, by the numerous
wars that occupied his troops, to demand payment of the
tribute Romanus I. had promised to Simeon^. Nicephorus
could not allow this ill-timed demand to pass unpunished : he
sent Kalokyres, the son of the governor of Cherson, as ambas-
sador to Russia, to invite Swiatoslaf, the Varangian prince of
Kief, to invade Bulgaria, and intrusted him with a sum of
fifteen hundred pounds' weight of gold, to pay the expenses
of the expedition. Kalokyres proved a traitor : he formed
* Leo Diaconus, 67. 76, edit. Bonn. Cedrenus seems to consider the conqueror
of Cyprus and the prisoner of Sicily different persons ; but we can hardly suppose
there were two eunuchs of the name of Niketas who were patricians, and held the
oflSce of drungarios or admiral ; pp. 654, 655. The MS. is mentioned by Mont-
fancon, Pal. Oraeca, 45 ; and by Hase, in his notes to Leo Diaconus. 443.
' Leo Diaconus, 61, ^t. Bonn.
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an alliance with Swiatoslaf, proclaimed himself emperor, and
involved the empire in a bloody war with the Russians.
Unpopular as Nicephorus II. was in the capital, his reig^n
was unusually free from rebellions of the troops or insurrec-
tions in the provinces. His life was terminated in his own
palace by domestic treachery. His beautiful wife Theophano,
and his valiant nephew John Zimiskes, were his murderers.
Theophano was said to have been induced to take part in the
conspiracy from love for Zimiskes, whom she expected to
marry after he mounted the throne. Zimiskes murdered his
friend and relation from motives of ambition \ A band of
conspirators, selected from the personal enemies of the ena-
peror, among whom was Burtzes, accompanied John Zimiskes
at midnight to the palace wall overlooking the port of Buko-
leon, and the female attendants of the empress hoisted them
up from their boat in baskets. Other assassins had been
concealed in the palace during the day, and all marched to
the apartment of the emperor. Nicephorus was sleeping
tranquilly on the floor — for he retained the habits of his mili-
tary life amidst the luxury of the imperial palace. Zimiskes
awoke him with a kick, and one of the conspirators gave him
a desperate wound on the head, while Zimiskes insulted his
uncle with words and blows : the others stabbed him in the
most barbarous manner. The veteran, during his sufferings,
only exclaimed, * O God I grant me thy mercy.' John I. was
immediately proclaimed emperor by the murderers. The
body of Nicephorus was thrown into the court, and left all
day on the snow exposed to public view, that everybody
might be convinced he was dead. In the evening it was
privately interred.
Thus perished Nicephorus Phokas on the loth December
969 — a brave soldier, an able general, and, with all his defects,
one of the most virtuous men and conscientious sovereigns
that ever occupied the throne of Constantinople. Though
born of one of the noblest and wealthiest families of the
Eastern Empire, and sure of obtaining the highest ofiices
^ A report was spread that Nicephorus intended to make eunuchs of Basil
and Constantine. and declare his brother Leo his successor. Zonaras, iL 207.
This was probably an invention of Theophano, but it met with little credit,
and her crime was ascribed to her warmth of temperament and the coldness
of her husband. There was a great fashion of filling monasteries with eimudu
at this time.
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at a proud and luxurious court, he chose a life of hardship
in pursuit of military glory; and a contemporary historian,
who wrote after his family had been ruined by proscription,
and his name had become odious, observes, that no one had
ever seen him indulge in revelry or debauchery even in his
youth ^.
John I. was a daring warrior and an able general ^. He
was thoughtless, generous, and addicted to the pleasures
of the table, so that, though he was by no means a better
emperor than Nicephorus, he was far more popular at
Constantinople: hence we find that his base assassination
of his sovereign and relative was easily pardoned and for-
gotten, while the fiscal severity of his predecessor was never
forgiven. The court of Constantinople was so utterly corrupt,
that it was relieved from all sense of responsibility; the
aristocracy knew no law but fear and private interest, and
successful ambition rendered every crime venial. The throne
was a stake for which all courtiers held it lawful to gamble,
who had courage enough to risk their eyes and their lives to
gain an empire. Yet we must observe that both Nicephorus
and John were men of nobler minds than the nobles around
them, for both respected the rights and persons of their wards
and legitimate princes, Basil and Constantine, and contented
themselves with the post of prime- minister and the rank of
emperor.
The chamberlain Basilios had been rewarded by Nice-
phorus, for his services in aiding him to mount the throne,
with the rank of President of the Council, a dignity created
on purpose. He was now intrusted by John with the com-
plete direction of the civil administration. The partisans
of Nicephorus were removed from all offices of trust, and
their places filled by men devoted to Zimiskes, or hostile
to the family of Phokas. All political exiles were recalled,
and a parade of placing the young emperors, Basil and
* Leo Diacontis, 7?*, edit. Bonn.
* The name Tzimiskes, an Armenian word, was given to John on account of
his short stature. Leo DIaconus, 9a, 454; Le Beau, Histoire du Bas-Empirt,
xiv. 100. The name is written in a fearful manner, and with variations not
adapted to render it euphonious, by Avdall in his translation of Chamich. History
of Armenia^ ii. 77, 01. He calls him Johannes Chimishkik in one passage, and
in another. Chumuskik Keurjan. He was bom at Hierapolis, on the Euphrates,
in the present pashalik of Amida or Diyar-bekr, called by Avdall Chumusnkazak,
and by Saint-Martin, Tdiemeschgedzeg. Mhnoir$s sur tArminie, i. 95.
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Constantine, on an equality with their senior colleague was
made, as an insinuation that they had hitherto been retained
in an unworthy state of inferiority. At the same time,
measures were adopted to prevent the rabble of the capital
from plundering the houses of the wealthy nobles who
had been dismissed from their appointments, which was a
usual proceeding at every great political revolution in
Constantinople ^
The coronation of John I. was delayed by the Patriarch
for a few days, for Polyeuktes lost no opportunity of showing
his authority. He therefore refused to perform the ceremony
until Zimiskes declared that he had not imbued his hands in
the blood of his sovereign. The emperor pointed out his
fellow-conspirators, Leo Valantes and Atzypotheodoros, as
the murderers, and excused himself by throwing the whole
blame of the murder on the Empress Theophano. The
officers thus sacrificed were exiled, and the empress was
removed from the imperial palace^. John was then admitted
to the favour of the Patriarch, on consenting to abrogate the
law of Nicephorus, providing that the candidates for ecclesias-
tical dignities should receive the emperor's approbation before
their election, and on promising to bestow all his private
fortune in charity. After his coronation, he accordingly
distributed one-half of his fortune among the poor peasants
round Constantinople, and employed the other in founding
an hospital for lepers, in consequence of that disease having
greatly increased about this time. He also increased his
popularity by remitting the tribute of the Armeniac
theme, which was his native province, and by adding to
* Cedrenus, 663. Gold coins, with the effigies of Nicephorus II. and Basil 11.,
attest that Basil preserved all the honours of his rank. Leo Diaconus, 94, edit
Bonn.
• Theophano was sent to the island of Prote, but escaped, and sought asylum
in St. Sophia's. The chamberlain Basilios took her thence by force, and she was
exiled to a monastery in the Armeniac theme, founded by her murdered husband.
Her indignation on hearing the sentence was so great, that she reviled Zimiskes,
and boxed the ears of the <£amberlain, whom she called a barbarian and a Scythian.
Leo Diaconus, 99 ; Cedrenus, 664. Gibbon is wrong in saying * she assaulted with
words and blows her son Basil;' and Le Beau has committed the same error.
Cedrenus says distinctly it was the celebrated eunuch she assaulted, and he was
the son of a Scythian woman. There is not a word about her proclaiming the
illegitimacy of the young Basil, nor indeed any reason to suppose he was present,
from the accounts of Leo Diaconus, Cedrenus, and Zonaras. On the contrary,
when Basil became the ruler of the empire, he recalled his mother from banish-
ment. Cedrenus, 684.
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the largesses which it was customary for the emperor to
distribute ^
The Patriarch Polyeuktes died about three months after
the coronation, and Zimiskes selected Basilios, a monk of
Mount Olympus, as his successor; and without paying any
respect to the canons which forbid the interference of the
laity in the election of bishops, he ordered him to be
installed in his dignity. The monk proved less compliant
than the emperor expected. After occupying the patriarchal
chair about five years, he was deposed for refusing to appear
before the emperor to answer an accusation of treason. The
Patriarch declared the emperor incompetent to sit as his
judge, asserting that he could only be judged or deposed
by a synod or general council of the church. He was
nevertheless banished to a monastery he had built on the
Scamander, and from which he is called Scamandrinos.
Antonios, the abbot of Studion, was appointed Patriarch in
his place.
The family of Phokas had so long occupied the highest
military commands, and disposed of the patronage of the
empire, that it possessed a party too powerful to be imme-
diately reduced to submission. The reign of John was
disturbed by more than one rebellion excited by its members.
Leo, the brother of Nicephorus, had distinguished himself
by gaining a great victory over the Saracens in the defiles
of Kylindros, near Andrassos, while his brother was occupied
with the conquest of Crete. During the reign of Nicephorus
he held the office of curopalates, but had rendered himself
hated on account of his rapacity. His second son, Bardas
Phokas, held the office of governor of Koloneia and Chaldia
when Nicephorus was murdered, and was banished to Amasia.
Bardas was one of the best soldiers and boldest champions
in the Byzantine army. In the year 970 he escaped from
confinement, and rendered himself master of Caesarea, where
he assumed the title of Emperor. In the mean time his
father, escaping from Lesbos, and his elder brother Nice-
phorus from Imbros, attempted to raise a rebellion in Europe.
These two were soon captured, and John, satisfied that he had
ruined the family when he murdered the Emperor Nicephorus,
^ Leo Diaconus, 100.
VOL. II, Z
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spared their lives, and allowed the sentence which condemned
them to lose their eyes to be executed in such a way that
they retained their eyesight Bardas, however, gave the
emperor some trouble, and it was necessary to recall Bardas
Skleros from the Russian war to take the command against
him^ Phokas, when deserted by his army, escaped to a
castle he had fortified as a place of refuge, where he defended
himself until Skleros persuaded him to surrender, on a pro-
mise that he should receive no personal injury. Zimiskes,
who admired his daring courage, condemned him to reside
in the island of Chios, and adopt the monastic robe. His
father Leo, who escaped a second time from confinement,
and visited Constantinople in the hope of rendering himself
master of the palace during ^the absence of the emperor, was
discovered, and dragged from St. Sophia's, in which he sought
an asylum. His eyes were then put out, and his immense
estates confiscated.
John, in order to connect himself with the Basilian dynasty,
married Theodora, one of the daughters of Constantine VII.
(Porphyrogenitus). Another more important marriage is passed
unnoticed by the Byzantine writers. Zimiskes, finding that
he could ill spare troops to defend the Byzantine possessions
in Italy against the attacks of the Western emperor, released
Pandulf of Beneventum, after he had remained three years a
prisoner at Constantinople, and by his means opened ami-
cable communications with Otho the Great. A treaty of
marriage was concluded between young Otho and Theo-
phano, the sister of the Emperors Basil and Constantine.
The nuptials were celebrated at Rome on the 14th of April
97ij ; and the talents and beauty of the Byzantine princess
enabled her to act a prominent and noble part in the history
of her time*.
A curious event in the history of the Eastern Empire,
which ought not to pass unnoticed, is the transportation of
a number of heretics, called by historians Manichaeans, from
* The family of Skleros is mentioned in the reign of Nicephoms I. Audorh
incerti Historia, 429.
* Muratori, Annali ^Italia, v. 435. [This marriage exercised a great inflaenoe
on early German art, by introducmg the Byzantine style of painting mto Germany.
This is very apparent in some illuminated MSS., which are preserved in the Royil
Library at Munich. One of these is described in Kugler's Handbook q^ Painimg;
German and Dutch Schools, p, 1 1. £d.]
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the eastern provinces of Asia Minor, to increase the colonies
of Paulicians and other heretics already established round
Philippopolis. This is said to have been done by the
Emperor John by advice of a hermit named Theodoros,
whom he elevated to the dignity of Patriarch of Antioch.
The continual mention of numerous communities of heretics
in Byzantine history proves that there is no greater delusion
than to speak of the unity of the Christian church. Dissent
appears to have been quite as prevalent, both in the Eastern
and Western churches, before the time of Luther, as it has
been since. Because the Greeks and Italians have been
deficient in religious feeling, and their superior knowledge
enabled them to affect contempt for other races, the history
of dissent has been neglected, and religious investigation
decried under the appellation of heresy ^
The Russian war was the g^eat event of the reign of John
Zimiskes. The military fame of the Byzantine emperor, who
was unquestionably the ablest general of his time, the great-
ness of the Russian nation, whose power now overshadows
Europe, the scene of the contest, destined in our day to be
again the battle-field of Russian armies, and the political
interest which attaches to the first attempt of a Russian
prince to march by land to Constantinople, all combine to
give a practical as well as a romantic interest to this war ^.
The first Russian naval expedition against Constantinople
in 865 would probably have been followed by a series of
plundering excursions, like those carried on by the Danes
and Normans on the coasts of England and France, had not
the Turkish tribe called the Patzinaks rendered themselves
* Cedrenus, 665. It cannot be surprising that dissent was prevalent when we
read how the clei]gy behaved. The Pope or anti-pope, called Boniface VII.,
assassinated Benedict VI., and, after despoiling the Vatican, fled to Constanti-
nople, A.D. 974. In 984 he returned to Rome, dethroned the reigning Pope,
Joon XIV., who perished in prison, and occupied the papal throne himself. He
died in the following year.
• Gibbon (voL vii. p. 80, edit. Smith) observes the singular undeclinable Greek
word used to designate the Russians, *?«!, but does not mention that it occurs
twice in the Septuagint, Ezek. xxxviii. 3, 3; xxxix. i. Our translation makes no
mention of the Ros or Russians, or the last verse would read thus : * Therefore,
thou son of man, prophesy against Goj^, and sav, thus saith the Lord God, Behold
I am against thee, O Gog, chief pnnce of tne Russians, Meshech. and Tubal.*
The Russians appear also to be mentioned twice in the Koran. Sale's Koran,
chap. 2$ (the Rass on which Sale has a note is supposed to mean the Russians),
and chap. 50. Sec Hammer, Sw Us Origines Russes, [See the article * Rosh * in
Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, which supports the explanation here given of these
passages, and quotes Gesenios to that effect. £0.]
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masters of the lower course of the Dnieper, and become
instruments in the hands of the emperors to arrest the
activity of the bold Varangians \ The rulers of Kief were
the same rude warriors that infested England and France,
but the Russian people was then in a more advanced state of
society than the mass of the population in Britain and Gaul.
The majority of the Russians were freemen ; the majority of
the inhabitants of Britain and Gaul were serfs. The com-
merce of the Russians was already so extensive as to influence
the conduct of their government, and to modify the military
ardour of their Varangian masters. But this commerce, after
the fall of the Khazar empire and the invasion of Europe by the
Magyars and Patzinaks, was carried on under obstacles which
tended to reduce its extent and diminish its profits, and
which it required no common degree of skill and perseverance
to overcome. The wealth revealed to the rapacious Varan-
gian chiefs of Kief by the existence of this trade invited thera
to attack Constantinople, which appeared to be the centre of
immeasurable riches.
After the defeat in 865, the Russians induced their rulers
to send envoys to Constantinople to renew commercial
intercourse, and invite Christian missionaries to visit their
country. No inconsiderable portion of the people embraced
Christianity, though the Christian religion continued long
after better known to the Russian merchants than to the
Varangian warriors^. The commercial relations of the
Russians with Cherson and Constantinople were now carried
on directly, and numbers of Russian traders took up their
residence in these cities. The first commercial treaty between
the Russians of Kief and the Byzantine empire was concluded
in the reign of Basil I ^. The intercourse increased from that
time. In the year 902, seven hundred Russians are mentioned
as serving on board the Byzantine fleet with high pay; in
935, seven Russian vessels, with 415 men, formed part of a
Byzantine expedition to Italy; and in 949, six Russian
vessels, with 629 men, were engaged in the unsuccessful
* i5<«above, p. 188.
• Con tin. 12a ; Cedrenus, 551 ; Photii Epistolae, 58; Wilken, t/ber dii Vtrhalt'
nisse der Russen zum Byzantinischen Reich^ 90; Karamsin, Jlisfocre d€ la Rusae^
i. 148.
» Zonaras, ii. 173.
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expedition of Gongyles against Crete \ In 966, a corps of
Russians accompanied the unfortunate expedition of Niketas
to Sicily \ There can be no doubt that these were all Varan-
gians, familiar, like the Danes and Normans in the West,
with the dangers of the sea, and not native Russians, whose
services on board the fleet could have been of little value to
the masters of Greece.
But to return to the history of the Byzantine wars with
the Russians. In the year 907, Oleg, who was regent of
Kief during the minority of Igor the son of Rurik, assembled
an army of Varangians, Sclavonians, and Croatians, and,
collecting two thousand vessels or boats of the kind then used
on the northern shore of the Euxine, advanced to attack
Constantinople. The exploits of this army, which pretended
to aspire at the conquest of Tzaragrad, or the City of the
Caesars, were confined to plundering the country round
Constantinople ; and it is not improbable that the expedition
was undertaken to obtain indemnity for some commercial
losses sustained by imperial negligence, monopoly, or
oppression. The subjects of the emperor were murdered,
and the Russians amused themselves with torturing their
captives in the most barbarous manner. At length Leo
purchased their retreat by the payment of a large sum of
money. Such is the account transmitted to us by the
Russian monk Nestor, for no Byzantine writer notices the
expedition, which was doubtless nothing more than a plunder-
ing incursion, in which the city of Constantinople was not
exposed to any danger ®. These hostilities were terminated
by a commercial treaty in 9iij, and its conditions are recorded
in detail by Nestor *.
In the year 941, Igor made an attack on Constantinople,
impelled either by the spirit of adventure, which was the
charm of existence among all the tribes of Northmen, or
else roused to revenge by some violation of the treaty of
912. The Russian flotilla, consisting of innumerable small
* Constant. Porphyr. Dt Caeremoniis Aulae Byz. i. 653, 660, 664, edit. Bonn.
* The Arabian nistorian Novairi, quoted by Karamsin.
* The Russians are said on this occasion to have transported their fleet over
some neck of land, in imitation of the exploit of Niketas Oryplias at the isthmus
of Corinth, but it cannot have been near Constantinople. La Chronigu* de Nestor,
traduiie en Francois par Louis Paris, i. 36.
* Nestor, L 39 ; Krug, 108.
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vessels, made its appearance in tlie Bosphorus while the
Byzantine fleet was absent in the Archipelago \ Igor landed
at different places on the coast of Thrace and Bithynia,
ravaging and plundering the country; the inhabitants were
treated with incredible cruelty; some were crucified, others
were burned alive, the Greek priests were killed by driving
nails into their heads, and the churches were destroyed.
Only fifteen ships remained -at Constantinople, but these
were soon fitted up with additional tubes for shooting Greek
fire. This force, trifling as it was in number, gave the Byzan-
tines an immediate superiority at sea, and the patrician Theo-
phanes sailed out of the port to attack the Russians. Igor,
seeing the small number of the enemy's ships, surrounded
them on all sides, and endeavoured to carry them by board-
ing ; but the Greek fire became only so much more available
against boats and men crowded together, and the attack was
repulsed with fearful loss. In the mean time, some of the
Russians who landed in Bithynia were defeated by Bardas
Phokas and John Kurkuas, and those who escaped from the
naval defeat were pursued and slaughtered without mercy
on the coast of Thrace. The Emperor Romanus ordered all
the prisoners brought to Constantinople to be beheaded.
Theophanes overtook the fugitive ships in the month of
September, and the relics of the expedition were destroyed,
Igor effecting his escape with only a few boats *. The Rus-
sian Chronicle of Nestor says that, in the year 944, Igor,
assisted by other Varangians, and by the Patzinaks, prepared
a second expedition, but that the inhabitants of Cherson so
alarmed the Emperor Romanus by their reports of its mag-
nitude, that he sent ambassadors, who met Igor at the mouth
of the Danube, and sued for peace on terms to which Igor
and his boyards consented. This is probably merely a salve
applied to the vanity of the people of Kief by their chronicler;
but it is certain that a treaty of peace was concluded between
the emperors of Constantinople and the princes of Kief in
the year 945 ^ The stipulations of this treaty prove the
' The Byzantine writers and Nestor speak of ten thousand boats, but Luitpnnd,
whose stepfather was then at Constantinople as ambassador from Hugh, king
of Italy, says only that there were more than a thousand. Luitprandi HisL v. 6.
* Contin. 363; Leo Gramm. 506; Symeon Mag. 490; Nestor, i. 54; Kmg,
186.
• The French translation of Nestor gives 945 as the date of the treaty, but
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importance attached to the commerce carried on by the
Russians with Cherson and Constantinople. The two Russo-
Byzantine treaties preserved by Nestor are documents of
great importance in tracing the history of civilization in the
east of Europe. The attention paid to the commercial in-
terests of the Russian traders visiting Cherson and Constan-
tinople, and the prominence given to questions of practical
utility instead of to points of dynastic ambition, may serve
as a contrast to many modem treaties in the west of Europe^
The trading classes would not have been powerful enough
to command this attention to their interests on the part of
the warlike Varangians, had a numerous body of free citizens
not been closely connected with the commercial prosperity
of Russia. Unfortunately for the people, the municipal in-
dependence of their cities, which had enabled each separate
community to acquire wealth and civilization, was not joined
to any central institutions that insured order and a strict
administration of justice, consequently each city fell separately
a prey to the superior military force of the comparatively
barbarian Varangians of Scandinavia. The Varangian con-
quest of Russia had very much the same effect as the Danish
and Norman conquests in the West. Politically, the nation
appeared more powerful, but the condition of all ranks of the
people socially was much deteriorated. It was, however,
the Tartar invasion which separates the modem and the
mediaeval history of Russia, and plunged the country into
the state of barbarism and slavery from which Peter the
Great first raised it.
The cmelty of the Varangian prince Igor, after his return
to Russia, caused him to be murdered by his rebellious
subjects^. Olga, his widow, became regent for their son
Romanus, Constantine, and Stephen are the emperors named in the text Ro-
manus L was deposed in December 944 ; Constantine and Stephen, his sons, on
the 37th January 945; and Romanus II., son of Constantine VII. (Porphyro-
genitus), was crowned as his father's colleague on the 6th April 945. Krug (a 10)
considers the treaty as concluded by Constantine VII. and Romanus 11.. and
it must have been ratified in the interval before Igor's death, which happened
before the end of 945.
* Commerce, as a means of increasing power and population, was beginning .
to excite the attention of the barbarians in western Europe. Athelstan, 925-941,
enacted a law to confer the privileges of a thane on any English merchant who
had made three voyages to a foreign country on his own account. Wilkins, Ltgn
Anglo^axonieas, 71.
* Leo Diaconus (106, edit. Bonn) calls his murderers Germans, meaning doubt-
less Northmen.
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Swiatoslaf. She embraced the Christian religion, and visited
Constantinople in 957, where she was baptized. The Em-
peror Constantine Porphyrogenitus has left us an account
of the ceremony of her reception at the Byzantine court ^.
A Russian monk has preserved the commercial treaties of
the empire ; a Byzantine emperor records the pageantry that
amused a Russian princess. The high position occupied by
the court of Kief in the tenth century is attested by the style
with which it was addressed by the court of Constantinople.
The golden bulls of the Roman emperor of the East, ad-
dressed to the prince of Russia, were ornamented with a
pendent seal equal in size to a double solidus, like those
addressed to the kings of France^.
We have seen that the Emperor Nicephorus II. sent the
patrician Kalokyres to excite Swiatoslaf to invade Bulgaria,
and that the Byzantine ambassador proved a traitor and
assumed the purpled Swiatoslaf invaded Bulgaria at the
head of a powerful army, which the gold brought by Kalo-
kyres assisted him to equip, and defeated the Bulgarian army
in a great battle, A.D. 968. Peter, king of Bulgaria, died
shortly after, and the country was involved in civil broils;
taking advantage of the confusion that ensued, Swiatoslaf
took Presthlava the capital, and rendered himself master of
the whole kingdom. Nicephorus formed an alliance with
the Bulgarians, and was preparing to defend them against
the Russians, when Swiatoslaf was compelled to return home,
in order to defend his capital against the Patzinaks. Nice-
phorus assisted Boris and Romanus, the sons of Peter, to
recover Bulgaria, and concluded an offensive and defensive
alliance with Boris, who occupied the throne. After the
assassination of Nicephorus, Swiatoslaf returned to Bulgaria
with an army of 60,000 men, and his enterprise assumed the
character of one of those great invasions which had torn
whole provinces from the Western Empire. His army was
increased by a treaty with the Patzinaks and an alliance with
the Hungarians, so that he b^an to dream of the conquest
of Constantinople, and hoped to transfer the empire of the
* Cedrenus, 636 ; Const. Porphyr. De Caer, Atd. Byz, i. 594, edit. Bonn ; King,
267.
* Const. Porphyr. De Caer, Aid, Byz, i. 690 ; Krug, 280.
* ^«» P- 333-
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East from the Romans of Byzantium to the Russians. It
was fortunate for the Byzantine empire that it was ruled by
a soldier who knew how to profit by the superior discipline
and tactics of his army. The Russian wsis not ignorant of
strat^^, and after completing the conquest of Bulgaria and
securing his flank by his alliance with the Hungarians, he
entered Thrace by the western passes of Mount Haemus,
then the most frequented road between Germany and Con-
stantinople, and that by which the Hungarians were in the
habit of making their plundering incursions into the empire.
John Zimisk^ was occupied in the East when Swiatoslaf
completed the conquest of Bulgaria and passed Mount Haemus,
expecting to subdue Thrace during the emperor's absence
with equal ease, A.D. 970. The empire was still suffering
from famine ^. Swiatoslaf took Philippopolis, and murdered
twenty thousand of the inhabitants. An embassy sent by
Zimiskes was dismissed with a demand of tribute, and the
Russian army advanced to Arcadiopolis, where one division
was defeated by Bardas Skleros, and the remainder retired
again behind Mount Haemus \
In the following spring, 971, the Emperor John took the
field at the head of an army of fifteen thousand infantry
and thirteen thousand cavalry, besides a body-guard of
chosen troops called the Immortals, and a powerful battery
of field and si^e engines ^. A fleet of three hundred galleys,
attended by many smaller vessels, was despatched to enter
the Danube and cut off the communications of the Russians
with their own country *.
Military operations for the defence and attack of Constanti-
nople are dependent on some marked physical features of the
country between the Danube and Mount Haemus. The
Danube, with its broad and rapid stream, and line of fortresses
on its southern bank, would be an impregnable barrier to a
^ Leo Diaconus, 103, edit. Bonn.
' Leo Diaconus, 105 ; see a note at p. 473, by Hase, on the chronology of this
period. I follow that generally received on the authority of Nestor.
• The numbers are given by Leo Diaconus, 130. Cedrenus (67a) gives five
thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry; 2k)naras (ii. an) the same number.
The proportion affords some insight into the constitution of Byzantine armies at
this penod of military glory, llie cavalry served as the model for European
chivalry, but the sword of the legionary could still gain a battle.
* Leo Diaconus (139) calls the larger vessels triremes, though they certainly
had not more than two tiers of oars. Of the smaller he says, <rwdfM \ififioi$ uai
dxarloii, & pw ToX/a* teal /wvipia icoivSn 6vofia(ovat,
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military power possessing an active ally in Hungary and
Servia ; for it is easy to descend the river and concentrate
the largest force on any desired point of attack, to cut oflF
the communications or disturb the flanks of the invaders.
Even after the line of the Danube is lost, that of Mount
Haemus covers Thrace; and it formed a rampart to Con-
stantinople in many periods of danger under the Byzantine
emperors. It wsis then traversed by three great military
roads passable for chariots. The first, which has a double
gorge, led from Philippopolis to Sardica by the pass called
the Gates of Trajan (now Kapou Dervencl), throwing out
three branches from the principal trunk to Naissos (Nisch)
and Belgrade ^ This road also affords an easy line of
communication between the Danube at Belgrade and the
Mediterranean at Thessalonica, by ascending the upper course
of the Morava to Skupi, and descending the course of the
Vardar^. Two secondary passes communicate with this road
to the north-east, affording passage for an army— that of
Kezanlik, and that of Isladi ; and these form the shortest
lines of communication between Philippopolis and the
Danube about Nicopolis, through Bulgaria. The second
gfreat pass is towards the centre of the range of Haemus,
and has preserved among the Turks its Byzantine name
of the Iron Gate^. It is situated on the direct line of
communication between Adrianople and Roustchouk, Through
this pass a good road might easily be constructed. The third
great pass \s that to the east, forming the line of communica-
tion between Adrianople and the Lower Danube near Silistria
(Dorystolon). It is called by the Turks Nadir Dervend.
The range of Haemus has several other passes independent
* Amm. Marcel, xxi. lo; Soromen, Hku EecUs, ii. aa; Nicephorus Gregoias, i.
331. Sardica is Triaditza, near Sophia.
' Reise von Belgrad nach Salonik, von J. G. von Hahn. Wien, 1861. 4to. Consal
von Hahn performed the whole journey in a carriage. [The object of Von Hahn's
journey was to discover whether tlie country was practicable for a line of railway,
and he reported unhesitatingly in its favour. He rode part of the way, and at one
point * die Wagen wurden mehr getragen als gezogen/ but with the exception of
some defiles the difficulties did not appear to l^ great. The Morava rises in the
plain of Kossova, the scene of the great defeat of the Servians by the Turks in
1389, and from the same plain flows a tributary of the Vardar (Axius), which joins
that river near Skopia (Skupi). In a subsequent work, Reist durch die OebUte dtt
Drin und Wardar (Wien, 1867), he supplements his former book by giving an
account of the lower course of the latter river, which he did not visit on his
previous journey. A railway now runs from Salonica to Skopia. £d.]
* Cedrenus, 784, M t^$ \tyoftiyrj$ :Bi9ripa$. The Turks call it Dcmir kapoo.
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of these, and its parallel ridges present numerous defiles.
The celebrated Turkish position at Shoumla is adapted to
cover several of these passes, converging on the great eastern
road to Adrianople.
The Emperor John marched from Adrianople just before
Easter, when it was not expected that a Byzantine emperor
would take the field. He knew that the passes on the great
eastern road had been left unguarded by the Russians, and
he led his army through all the defiles without encountering
any difficulty. The Russian troops stationed at Presthlava,
who ought to have guarded the passes, marched out to meet
the emperor when they heard he had entered Bulgaria.
Their whole army consisted of infantry; but the soldiers were
covered with chain armour, and accustomed to resist the light
cavalry of the Patzinaks and other Turkish tribes ^. They
proved no match for the heavy-armed lancers of the imperial
army; and, after a vigorous resistance, were completely
routed by John Zimiskes^ leaving eight thousand five hundred
men on the field of battle. On the following day Presthlava
was taken by escalade, and a body of seven thousand Rus-
sians and Bulgarians, who attempted to defend the royal
palace, which was fortified as a citadel, were put to the sword
after a gallant defence. Sphengelos, who commanded this
division of the Russian force, and the traitor Kalokyres,
succeeded in escaping to Dorystolon, where Swiatoslaf con-
centrated the rest of the army; but Boris, king of Bul-
garia, with all his family, was taken prisoner in his
capital.
The emperor, after celebrating Easter in Presthlava, ad-
vanced by Pliscova and Dinea to Dorystolon, where Swiatoslaf
still hoped for victory, though his position was becoming
daily more dangerous. The Byzantine fleet entered the
Danube and took up its station opposite the city, cutting
off the communications of the Russians by water, at the
same time that the emperor encamped before the walls and
blockaded them by land. Zimiskes, knowing he had to
deal with a desperate enemy, fortified his camp with a
ditch and rampart according to the old Roman model.
* The Russians then wore armour simUar to that worn by the Normans in
western Europe at a later period. Leo Diaconus, 108, 144, edit. Bonn.
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which was traditionally preserved by the Byzantine engineers.
The Russians enclosed within the walls of Dorystolon were
more numerous than their besiegers, and Swiatoslaf endea-
voured to open communications with the surrounding country,
by bringing on a general engagement in the plain before all
the defences of the enemy's camp were completed. He
expected to defeat the attacks of the Byzantine cavalry
by forming his men in squares, and, as the Russian soldiers
were covered by long shields that reached to their feet, he
expected to be able, by advancing his squares like moving
towers, to clear the plain of the enemy. But while the
Byzantine legions met the Russians in front, the heavy-armed
cavalry assailed them with their long spears in flank, and the
archers and slingers under cover watched coolly to transfix
every man where an opening allowed their missiles to pene-
trate. The battle nevertheless lasted all day, but in the
evening the Russians were compelled, in spite of their
desperate valour, to retire into Dorystolon without having
effected anything. The infantry of the north now b^^n to
feel its inferiority to the veteran cavalry of Asia sheathed in
plate armour, and disciplined by long campaigns against
the Saracens. Swiatoslaf, however, continued to defend
himself by a series of battles rather than sorties, in which
he made desperate efforts to break through the ranks of
the besiegers in vain, until at length it became evident that
he must either conclude peace, die on the field of battle,
or be starved to death in Dorystolon. Before resigning
himself to his fate, he made a last effort to cut his way
through the Byzantine army; and on this occasion the
Russians fought with such desperation, that contemporaries
ascribed the victory of the Byzantine troops, not to the
superior tactics of the emperor, nor to the discipline of
a veteran army, but to the personal assistance of St.
Theodore, who found it necessary to lead the charge of
the Roman lancers, and shiver a spear with the Russians
himself, before their phalanx could be broken. The victory
was complete, and Swiatoslaf sent ambassadors to the emperor
to sue for peace.
The siege of Dorystolon had now lasted more than two
months, and the Russian army, though reouced by repeated
losses, still amounted to twenty-two thousand men. The
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valour and contempt of death which the Varangians had
displayed in the contest, convinced the emperor that it
would cause the loss of many brave veterans to insist on
their laying down their arms; he was therefore willing
to come to terms, and peace was concluded on condition
that Swiatoslaf should yield up Dorystolon, with all the
plunder, slaves, and prisoners in possession of the Russians,
engage to swear perpetual amity with the empire, and
promise never to invade either the territory of Cherson or
the kingdom of Bulgaria; while, on the other hand, the
Emperor John engaged to allow the Russians to descend
the Danube in their boats, to supply them with two medimni
of wheat for each surviving soldier, to enable them to return
home without dispersing to plunder for their subsistence, and
to renew the old commercial treaties between Kief and Con-
stantinople * ; July 971.
After the treaty was concluded, Swiatoslaf desired to have
a personal interview with his conqueror. John rode down
to the bank of the Danube clad in splendid armour, and
accompanied by a brilliant suite of guards on horseback.
The short figure of the emperor was seen to no disadvantage
on horseback. He was distinguished by the beauty of his
charger and the splendour of his arms, while his fair counten-
ance, light hair, and piercing blue eyes fixed the attention of
all on his bold and good-humoured face, which contrasted
well with the dark and sombre visages of his attendants.
Swiatoslaf arrived by water in a boat, which he steered
himself with an oar. His dress was white, differing in no
way from that of those under him, except in being cleaner.
Sitting in the stern of his boat, he conversed for a short
time with the emperor, who remained on horseback close
to the beach. The appearance of the bold Varangian excited
much curiosity, and is thus described by a historian who
was intimate with many of those who were present at the
interview: — ^The Russian was of the middle stature, well
formed, with strong neck and broad chest. His eyes were
blue, his eyebrows thick, his nose flat, and his beard shaved,
but his upper lip was shaded with long and thick mustaches.
* Leo Diaconus, 155, edit. Bonn. I presume the medimnus means here the
common Byzantme measure, which was nearly a bushel, without any reference to
Attic measures. A part of the treaty is given, with the date, by Nestor, i. loa
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The hair of his head was cropped close, except two long
locks which hung down on each side of his face, and
were thus worn as a mark of his Scandinavian race. In
his ears he wore golden earrings ornamented with a ruby
between two pearls, and his expression was stem and
fierce ^.
Swiatoslaf immediately quitted Dorystolon, but he was
obliged to winter on the shores of the Euxine, and famine
thinned his ranks. In spring he attempted to force his way
through the territory of the Patzinaks with his diminished
army. He was defeated, and perished near the cataracts
of the Dnieper. Kour, prince of the Patzinaks, became
the possessor of his skull, which he shaped into a drinking-
cup, and adorned with the moral maxim, doubtless not less
suitable to his own skull, had it fallen into the hands of
others, ' He who covets the property of others, oft loses his
own.* We have already had occasion to record that the
skull of the Byzantine emperor, Nicephorus I., had orna-
mented the festivals of a Bulgarian king; that of a
Russian sovereign now figured in the tents of a Turkish
tribe.
The results of the campaign were as advantageous to the
Byzantine empire as they were glorious to the Emperor John.
Bulgaria was conquered, and a strong garrison established in
Dorystolon, but Boris was still titular king of Bulgaria. He
was now compelled to resign his crown, accept the title of
magister, and reside at Constantinople as a pensioner of the
Byzantine government The frontier of the eastern empire
was thus once more extended to the Danube *. The peace
with the Russians was uninterrupted until about the year
988, when, from some unknown cause of quarrel, Vladimir
the son of Swiatoslaf attacked and gained possession of
Cherson by cutting off the water.
The Greek city of Cherson, situated on the extreme verge
of ancient civilization, escaped for ages from the impoverish-
ment and demoralization into which the Hellenic race was
precipitated by the Roman system of concentrating all power
in the capital of the empire ^ Cherson was governed for
* Leo Diaconus, 156. ■ Cedrenus, 694,
* Cherson replaced the ancient Chersonesos, and Sebastopol now stands near its
ruins. Chersonesos was recognised as a free city by Augustus. Pliny {fiiu. JVol,
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centuries by its own elective magistrates, and it was not until
towards the middle of the ninth century that the Emperor
Theophilus destroyed its independence. The people, how-
ever, still retained in their own hands some control over their
local administration, though the Byzantine government lost
no time in undermining the moral foundation of the free
institutions which had defended a single city against many
bait>arous nations that had made the Roman emperors trem-
ble^. The inhabitants of Cherson long looked with indifference
on the favour of the Byzantine emperor, cherished the institu-
tions of Hellas, and boasted of their self-government^. A
thousand years after the rest of the Greek nation was sunk in
irremediable slavery, Cherson remained free. Such a phe-
nomenon as the existence of manly feeling in one city, when
mankind everywhere else slept contented in a state of political
degradation, deserves attentive consideration. Indeed, we may
be better able to appreciate correctly the political causes that
corrupted the Greeks in the Eastern Empire, if we can ascer-
tain those which enabled Cherson, though surrounded by
powerful enemies and barbarous nations, to preserve
*A Homer's language munnuring in her streets^
And in her haven many a mast from Tyre.*
The history of mankind in every age shows us that the
material improvement of the people, the first great public
works of utility, and the extension of commerce and trade,
are effected by the impulsion of local institutions. Such pro-
gress is the expression of the popular feeling that excites
every man to better his own condition, and causes him, in
so doing, to better the condition of the society in which he
lives. Order, unfortunately, too often expresses only the
feelings of the class possessing wealth. Its necessity may
be felt by all, but the problem of connecting it with equity,
and making it dependent on justice, is not easily solved, and
hence the pretext of its maintenance serves for the creation of
iv. 85) mentions its importance, and its attachment to Greek manners and customs.
Strabo, vii.' p. 308 ; Scylax, 29.
* Constantine Porphyrogenitus is very particular in explaining the measures to
be adopted in case of insurrections in Cherson. He shows it was in possession of
a numerous commercial navy, though it imported wheat, wine, and other neces-
saries. De Adm. Imp. 53.
* There is a very late testimony to these facts in a fragment published by Hase,
in his notes to Leo Diaconus, p. 503, edit. Bonn— a^vir^/ioir 8i /«i\i<rro (py^ft^
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irresponsible power. The government in which the family and
the parish occupy the most important part will ever be the
best, for it will secure to honesty and truth that deference
which a more extended circle attempts to transfer to the con-
ventional virtues of honour and politeness. It is in the family
and the parish that the foundation of all virtue is laid, long
before the citizen enters the camp, the senate, or the court
The twelve nomes of Egypt doubled the extent and wealth of
the country by digging the canal of Joseph, and forming the
lake Moeris, before the Pharaohs became conquerors and
builders of pyramids. The energy of municipal institutions
filled the Mediterranean and the Euxine with Greek colonies.
Rome rose to greatness as a municipality; centralization
arrested her progress and depopulated the world. Great Bri-
tain, with her colonies and Indian empire, affords an instance
of the superiority of the individual patriotism and self-respect
generated by local institutions over the strict obedience and
scientific power conferred by the centralization of authority.
But the respective merits of self-government and of central
government are in the course of receiving their fullest de-
velopment under the two mighty empires of the United States
of America and of Russia. Both these governments have dis-
played consummate ability in the conduct of their respective
political systems, and the practical decision of the problem,
whether local or central government is the basis of the political
institutions best adapted to the improvement of man, as a
moral and social being, seems by Providence to have been
intrusted to the cabinet of the emperor of Russia and to the
people of the United States of America.
In the reign of Diocletian, while Themistos was president of
Cherson^ Sauromatos the Bosporian^ passing along the
eastern shores of the Euxine, invaded the Roman empire.
■ Constantine Porphyrogenitus calls this chief Sauromatos the Bosporian the
son of Kriskon-Oros, which, it has been conjectured, ought to be read Kriskoo
the son of Oros, a Sarmatian of Bosporos. Sauromates is a name common to
several kings of Bosporos ; but Sauromatos, which Constantine Porphyrogenitus
gives to the three chiefs he mentions, is not found elsewhere, and he never calls
Uiem kings. The coins of Bosporos give the. names of other kings about this
period. The text of Constantine is so inexact, both from his own errors in history,
and from the inaccuracy of transcribers, that I prefer giving the names as thev
stand, and leaving the miperial writer to answer for himself. I have changra
Constans to Constantius Chlorus. See Koehne, Beitrage zur Qesckicku uad Arekt^"
clogU von Chtrrowsot in Tauritn^ loo.
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He overran Lazia and Pontus without difficulty, but on the
banks of the Halys he found the Roman army assembled
under the command of Constantius Chlorus. On hearing of
this invasion, Diocletian sent ambassadors to invite the people
of Cherson to attack Bosporos, in order to compel Sauromatos
to return home. Cherson, holding the rank of an allied city,
could not avoid conceding that degree of supremacy to the
Roman emperor which a small state is compelled to yield to
a powerful protector, and the invitation was received as a
command. Chrestos succeeded Themistos in the presidency;
he sent an army against Bosporos, and took the city. But
the Chersonites, though brave warriors, sought peace, not con-
quest, and they treated all the inhabitants of the places that
had fallen into their hands, in a way to conciliate the goodwill
of their enemies. Their successes forced Sauromatos to con-
clude peace and evacuate the Roman territory, in order to
r^ain possession of his capital and family. As a reward for
their services, Diocletian granted the Chersonites additional
security for their trade, and extensive commercial privileges
throughout the Roman empire ^
During the reign of Constantine the Great, the Goths and
Sarmatians invaded the Roman empire. The emperor called
on the inhabitants of Cherson, who were then presided over
by Diogenes, to take up arms. They sent a force well fur-
nished with field-machines to attack the Goths, who had
already crossed the Danube, and defeated the barbarians with
great slaughter. Constantine, to reward their promptitude in
the service of the empire, sent them a golden statue of himself
in imperial robes, to be placed in the hall of the senate,
accompanied with a charter ratifying every privilege and com-
mercial immunity granted to their city by preceding emperors.
He bestowed on them also an annual supply of the materials
necessary for constructing the warlike machines of which they
had made such good use, and allowances for a thousand men
to work these engines ^. This subsidy continued to be paid in
* Constantine Por